Pretty Guardian Sailor Peter! R
by ac-the-brain-supreme
Summary: After a few month's rest, the Sailor Scouts are brought back into action with the appearance of a strange little girl and a series of disturbing dreams.
1. The Little Stranger

_Sorry about the extreme randomness of deleting this story the first time round, but I didn't like the chapter I posted here. And also, sorry about the delay in replacing it. I wanted to finish the entire story before posting it. I haven't finished it, but I'm far enough ahead that I feel confident in posting. _

_Anyway, sorry for the delay and I hope you enjoy!_

**ac-the-brain-supreme does not own Sailor Moon, Heroes, or anything, really.**

* * *

Peter heard the _slosh slosh_ of his coffee as he moved the styrofoam cup back and forth. Next to him, on a bench they had found in Central Park, was Mohinder. He, too, had a styrofoam cup, but his was filled with tea. They were both quiet. Peter, because he was waiting for Mohinder to speak. Mohinder, because he was turning over the dream Peter had just related to him. The night before, Peter had had a dream where a little girl was trying to escape a destruction of some sort. At least that was all Peter remembered of it. Peter always had a hard time remembering elements of his dreams. This one was no different.

Mohinder leaned forward. "Do you think this was a cry for help?"

Peter looked at his friend. "What do you mean?"

Mohinder looked out towards the concrete path that snaked through the park. There was a white hore-drawn carriage carrying a young couple. They looked happy. "Someone might be looking for your help."

"Why?"

Mohinder stared blankly at his friend. "You're Sailor Moon..." Mohinder said, trailing off.

"That doesn't mean everyone knows about that." Peter took a swig of his coffee. "I doubt that anyone in this city has even the slightest idea of the Sailor Scouts' existence."

Mohinder looked up. "This city. This planet. Out there, though..."

Peter looked up. The sky was a dull blue. Nothing magnificent. Something you'd expect on a regular December day. He looked back at Mohinder. "Would someone really try to contact us from across the galaxy?"

Mohinder shrugged. "Metaria was not of this world. Possibly, she wasn't even of this galaxy. If she was able to find a way to get to Earth all those thousands of years ago, then certainly other supernatural extraterrestrials could make their way here." Mohinder took a sip of his tea. "Especially considering the energy levels that this planet is exuding at this moment."

Peter looked confused. "What?"

Mohinder gestured to Peter with the hand that held the styrofoam cup. "The Silver Crystal. Remember what I told you? It's the most powerful substance in the galaxy, possibly the universe. And if it's that powerful, then it's definitely going to give off some sort of energy signature, just like an electrical socket. But since the energy that the Silver Crystal gives off is neither organic or mechanic, then it's going to give off an extremely unique signature. And when something extremely unique combines with something extremely powerful, then beings are going to be attracted to it." Mohinder smiled at Peter. "It's simple logic."

Peter had to sort out what the hell Mohinder just said. After a moment, he presented another question: "That doesn't mean that this powerful energy isn't bad."

Mohinder took another drink of his tea. "Energy is neither good nor bad. It's just a form of power. It's the person who controls the power and what they do with it that's good or bad."

(--)

Niki leaned forward, making sure her sweetest smile was on her face for this customer. "The regular" she asked, something akin to humor inflecting her voice.

The man, a construction worker that Niki had seen working on her building the week prior, scratched the back of his head. "How'd you know?"

Niki winked, just like Jessica had taught her to do around cute men. "Just a hunch." She wrote two letters on the cardboard. "DL, right?"

"Yep" the man said, giving her a smile. "And you are..."

Niki's smile grew. "I'm Niki Sanders."

(--)

Matt Parkman sat at a desk, doing paper work. He was filling out a report on a recent breaking-and-entering that ended up being a boyfriend trying to surprise his girlfriend on her birthday with pancakes. In the end, the girl was extremely sorry for causing such a ruckus and Matt and his partner, a guy named Joe, had pancakes. They were pretty good pancakes too. The young man often hoped that all these calls ended up like that. Unfortunately, as in L.A., calls ended up being murders, rapes, thefts, _actual_ breaking-and-enterings, hate crimes, and dozens of other disturbed occurances.

_That_ was why Matt didn't want to be a beat-cop anymore. Though, as a detective, he would end up investigating those same exact crimes, at least he'd be doing something helpful. Something that would bring comfort to the victims.

"Parkman!" Matt stood up faster than the Flash could run while on meth, and faced his boss. The older man gestured to him to follow. Matt obeyed, and followed the older man out of the room and into his office. It was a dark little place, with a window with Venitian blinds, a small paper-covered desk, a filing cabinet with a fern on top, a swivvel chair, and an uncomfortable-looking chair in front of the little desk.

"You can sit if you want" the boss says as he sits down in the swivvel chair behind the desk.

Matt decides to stand. "What did you bring me in here for, Sir?"

The older man picked up a peice of paper. It was folded over three times. In a gray scrawl was Matt's name. Matt's hands shook as he stared at the paper. These were the results of the written detective exam. Matt noticed his boss's look of "open it now, dummy" and did what he was "told". His eyes scanned the paper over two or three times before his face went very, very pale. He looked at his boss. "Sir..."

"You start in your new position Monday. I'll give you the weekend off, okay?" Matt nodded. "Good," the older man said. He waved Matt away. "Now back to work."

Matt nodded again. "Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir." Matt kept his face serious and professional as he walked out of the office. Instead of returning to his desk, as he had been instructed, Matt exited the back entrance, where smokers normally took their breaks. There was no one there, so Matt had no reason to feel embarrassed as he let loose a resounding "Yahoo!" into the early December sky.

(--)

Peter dreaded having to get the mail today. It was the third of the month, meaning that it was rent-collection-day. And eviction-notice-day. Peter's lease contract had allowed him to pay for his first five years in advance, but the clause had expired four months ago, while he was being Sailor Moon. He hadn't been able to produce the next five years' rent, so he and his landlord had made a new contract. Said contract stated that Peter needed to produce rent the third Saturday of every month and if the rent went unpaid for more than three consecutive months, Peter was going to get evicted.

As Peter ripped open the letter that held his landlord's name, his stomach turned nervously. He tried to ignore it, but it was hard considering the fact that Peter hadn't paid his rent in what seemed like forever and that sooner or later Peter's hardass of a landlord would hunt him down and tan his hindquarters.

Peter's eyes moved quickly from left to right, betraying the fact that he was taking in every single word like if the ink they were made out of was made out of fine, decadent swiss chocolate. After his eyes met the end of the letter, they went over it again. Somehow, slower than before.

Peter's eyebrows turned downwards. He folded up the paper and put it in his pocket.

(--)

Nathan liked taking the weekends off. It allowed him time to be with his busy family and to just _relax_.

At this moment, he was lounging on a couch while he listened to his children run around outside. A room away, Heidi was playing some soft piano music that was lulling Nathan off to sleep. Nathan closed his eyes. A good nap wouldn't hurt, he figured. It wasn't like he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. Actually, he kind of didn't. Cause Heidi had snuggled so close to him and the kids were out with their friends and...

Nathan's eyes shot open with the sound of the doorbell. The brunette stood up and made his way to the door. He figured that the maid working upstairs wouldn't mind letting Nathan get it.

"Oh, hey Pete" Nathan greeted, slightly shocked. Peter didn't really come over before Sunday, unless he heard that one of the kids or Nathan or Heidi were sick. That, or he had found something interesting out, like he was the reincarnation of a prince who died over ten-thousand years ago and whose enemy has now returned to exact revenge. Wait, no, that's when Mohinder comes over.

Nathan noticed how angry Peter looked. He stepped to the side, silently, and watched as Peter stomped through the open door. Nathan sighed and closed the door. This wasn't going to be very good, was it?

"You paid off my rent!" Nathan, whose back was to Peter, rolled his eyes. He does something nice...

Nathan turned towards his little brother. "And what's wrong with that?" Nathan asked. "I saved you from being evicted."

Peter had pulled out a paper that was folded in his pocket. He held it up and was waving it around in Nathan's face. "You paid off my rent for the _next three years_!"

Nathan crossed his arms. "Again, what's wrong with that?"

Peter drew back. "Nathan, I'm a grown man! You don't have to come running to my aid whenever I ask for help!"

Nathan stepped closer to Peter. "Technically, I do" he replied in a whisper.

Peter glared at his older brother. "Besides that...and even then I don't need your help all the time." Nathan tried to hide the fact that he didn't believe his brother, but Peter picked up on it. "I am" he insisted. "Look...Isaac and Niki and Matt are all just as strong and as capable as you are. There hasn't been any trouble in months, and it's questionable whether there ever will be again."

Nathan stared straight into Peter's eyes. "There will be more trouble, Peter. Just because we beat one bad guy doesn't mean we've defeat them all."

The two Petrellis stared at each other. There was an intensity that flared between them. Neither were ready to bend to the other's will, and to demonstrate this, neither were going to look away from a pair of similarly-colored eyes.

"Daddy?"

The tension was sliced by a tiny, innocent little voice. Nathan looked around Peter. Peter turned around. One of his eye brows struck up. Standing there was a girl. A little, blond-haired, green-eyed girl with chubby cheeks, a pair of ponytails that pulled her hair back, and a teddy bear that she held so tightly that it would was almost turning blue.

Peter turned around completely as Nathan walked up to the little girl. "Who is that?" Peter asked.

Nathan picked up the little girl. He turned to Peter, looking confused. "What are you talking about?"

Peter pointed to the blond. "_Her_, who is she?"

Nathan's eyes narrowed as the girl's eyes widened. "Peter, this is Claire, your neice."

Peter's forehead furrowed. "No, she's not."

Claire began to cry. Nathan grew furious. "What do you mean she's not your neice? If she's my daughter, then she's your neice!"

Peter pointed at Claire. "You don't have a daughter!"

"Than who am I holding?" Nathan bit back.

Peter opened his mouth, then stopped. He remembered what Mohinder had said to him the day before, about the power of the Silver Crystal attracting others to Earth. He had said they would be coming in search of help, but why would someone looking for assisstance do something so...suspicious?

Peter's eyes widened. He turned on the balls of his foot and ran out of the house, forgetting his annoyance with Nathan for treating him like a child and remembering where exactly he put the compact containing the Silver Crystal.

(--)

The moment the needle slid into his skin, Isaac remembered exactly why he got so hooked on this stuff in the first place. He remembered that it just took him away from everything. Back then, "everything" was Simone's bitching, his stretch of crappy paintings, his almost-completely-poorness; pretty much his entire life. But this time around, the numbness that spread up his arm was to escape the turmoil rolling around in his stomach and heart.

Isaac pulled the needle out of the dip of his arm once the clear, addictive liquid had been emptied into the blue veins beneath. His smile and his eyes drifted off into a dream.


	2. Suspicions

_Okay, a cute little chapter thats really here for a) filler purposes and, b) because I wanted Peter's paranoia about Claire to be stated plainly. After this one, dear readers, the chapter get longer and more action-filled. Actually, part of the reason this one is so short is because I wanted the next one to be longer and action-filled. Also, as a warning, this chapter ends with some Paac (Peter/Isaac) yumminess because...well...Paac is just wonderful._

_Well, here it is! I hope you all enjoy!_

**ac-the-brain-supreme does not own Heroes, if that is not already made clear enough.**

* * *

Peter was panting as he stood in front of Mohinder. He had gone through his whole day--from discovering his brother had betrayed him in probably the most embarrassing way ever to the stranger that had snuck herself into his brother's unsuspecting family, brainwashing them in the process because there was no way that Nathan would believe some little girl who showed up on their doorstep was his daughter. All the while, Mohinder was nursing away a hang-over he had managed after a drinking binge with Matt to celebrate his promotion. Shanti had always told Mohinder he should stay away from hard liquor, that it was _nothing_ like the wine and champagne he had snuck while living with his parents. Of course, her words, just like her, were far away.

Mohinder rubbed his temples as he looked at Peter. "That does seem a little strange" he said. He was hoping that was the right thing to say, since he hadn't really heard the entire rant.

"I know! Why would an enemy send a little girl to--"

"Didn't you say that a little girl was in trouble in the dream you told me about?" Mohinder asked. Maybe he should've actually paid attention.

"Those dreams could've been misleading" Peter pointed out. "She probably sent them to me because her superiors told her that she needed to get on my good side so that the Sailor Scouts will protect her!"

Mohinder closed his eyes, both in tought and because Peter's moving about was making him nauseous. "Interesting theory" Mohinder said, "but I have to wonder if the anger you held before meeting Claire is pouring into your thoughts of who Claire might be."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I don't doubt that this Claire girl is suspicious. I would be a little paranoid over a little girl that just waltzed into my apartment and said that she was my neice too. I mean, last I checked my sister wasn't near pregnant, so--"

"You have a sister?"

Mohinder felt his face heat up as he looked at Peter. "Yes. She's back in India."

"Really?" Peter blinked. He hummed in surprise. Mohinder figured that it was good to continue.

"I would be suspicious too. But before we jump all over this girl like she's the anti-Christ, let's tell the others about. Five chances out of ten, she's nothing more than a scared girl who was sent out for protection. Maybe she figured that if she was apart of your family, then she would get insta-protection. That obviously wasn't a good decision, because all that did was freak you out. And with the Silver Crystal reacting to your emotion and you not having one hundred percent control over it--"

"Who said I don't?"

Mohinder backtracked. "Point is, she made a bad move that probably would've ended in her getting hurt." Mohinder thought for a moment, opening his eyes. "Why don't we go and call everyone up? Have a meeting for tomorrow or something?"

Peter's eyes sparkled. "Yeah! That's good! I'll go tell everyone!" Peter almost sprinted out of the apartment.

Mohinder fell over on the couch. Peter seemed happy to finally get his Sailor Scout powers back into work. Mohinder figured that he was feeling a little useless since he was finding hard time getting work again. This was the last thoughts of the Indian man before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

(--)

Since Nathan was going to be there, Mohinder made sure Peter wasn't going to give his theory about Claire at that meeting. Peter asked when he as going to tell the others, because he felt he had the duty to tell the team to at least keep an eye out on her. Mohinder told him to just wait. He could always call them up and tell them individually and ask them to keep the theory away from Nathan. Peter agreed to this and continued to wait for the others.

By noon, everyone had shown up. Niki and Matt were in their respective work clothes. They both had an anxious look on their faces, either from having to be away from their work for so long or because they didn't know what this meeting was about. They had been the ones to adapt to life after Metaria the quickest and both seemed like they would be the first to miss their normal lives. Next to Matt was Isaac, wearing his staple outfit, a paint-stained throw away top with paint-stained jeans. He was looking bored. Peter wanted to sit next to him and smile at him, get a conversation out of him. They hadn't spoken in what felt like forever. It seemed that whenever Peter called recently, Isaac had been too busy or unable to answer. Finally, there was Nathan, who was in what Peter normally thought of as his work clothes, but, he assumed, could also double as church clothes.

"So," Nathan said, checking his watch, "what are we doing here?"

Peter paced in front of everyone. He explained them the dream he had had with a little girl and the danger she had been in. That she was in a place that was being attacked and that she was being taken away for safety reasons. He also explained that there was a pregnant woman too, but he couldn't get a good look at her.

"Were there any names to these people?" Nathan asked. Ever the lawyer.

Peter thought for a second. "Only two. Polly and Lordess. I'm sure Lordess was the pregnant woman, though."

"What do you think Polly was running from?" Matt asked.

"Is the little girl's name actually Polly?" Niki asked.

Peter shrugged. "I just remember the names Polly and Lordess. For the time being, we have to call her Polly."

"Who would name their daughter Polly?" Isaac chimed in. His eyes were far-away.

"Someone who likes the name" Nathan bit back. Isaac narrowed his eyes in Nathan's general direction.

Mohinder walked by, holding a steaming tea kettle and some mugs full of tea leaves. "Let's get off the subject of names for the moment and get to business." He lifted the mugs he held in one hand. "Tea, anyone?"

Niki and Matt held their hands up. Mohinder passed them each a mug and poured hot water into each mug. Niki looked contemplative and, before they could continue their conversation, she stated: "Polly isn't that bad of a name. It could be short for something, like Pollyanna. That's kind of a cute name." Niki smiled brightly. "I like Micah, though. Very cute!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Matt asked, sipping his tea.

"They were just talking about the name Polly" Niki defended. "I thought I'd add my two cents."

"Let's move on" Nathan said, rubbing his temple.

"What would you name your children if you ever had one, Mohinder?" Niki asked, ignoring Nathan completely.

"We're not going back to this dream you had, are we Peter?" Isaac asked.

"Nope" Peter agreed. He smiled at Isaac. Isaac smiled back.

Mohinder hadn't heard them. "I don't know. Depends on who my wife is."

"What do you mean?" Niki asked.

"Well..." Mohinder trailed off. His conversation with Niki was lost to the other four in the room, who returned to the original subject of the meeting.

"Do you think this Polly girl is already on Earth?" Nathan asked.

Peter shrugged. "She might be. She might have always been on Earth."

"So our problem is finding Polly and figuring out what's up with her?" Isaac asked.

"And when we do find her and find out what's wrong, what we're going to do about it?" Matt added.

Peter nodded. "Yeah. That's pretty much it."

Nathan shrugged. "So what do we do?"

"Why don't we just wait?" Matt suggested. "If anything strange happens, alert each other."

"Good idea" Isaac agreed. "Let's do that."

Peter nodded. "Good. Meeting adjorned, then?"

"Agreed" Isaac said, lifting his hand lazily.

"Good." Nathan stood. "I have to go now." He looked at his watch. "I'll see you tomorrow for breakfast Peter." Nathan put on his jacket and walked out of the apartment.

The second Nathan had closed the door, Peter turned to Isaac and Matt, who were still paying attention. "I went to Nathan's yesterday and discovered the daughter he didn't have the day before."

Isaac whistled. "He must've gotten around when he was young."

"Yes" Peter conceded, "but our mother wouldn't have let any of those children find out about him or let him find out about them."

"What do you mean?" Matt asked.

"My mother is eternally looking for ways to boost our family's power and position in the city" Peter said. "Scandals are to be boxed away, burned, and forgotten before they can even see the light of gossip."

"Sounds like a nice lady" Isaac mumbled. Peter smiled at that.

Isaac slumped over the side of the couch. "So, what's the girl's name?"

Peter looked at Isaac's hand. It was quite close to Peter's hip. "Claire" he said, shifting a little closer to the hand.


	3. The Illness

_Hello again! Sorry if updating is taking a long time. I figured that if I spread out the chapters to the 1st and the 15th of each month, then I will finish the story (and possibly get onto the next installment), be consistent with my updating, and work on other stories. So sorry if things aren't going as fast as you guys might like._

_Okay, this chapter is longer than the last and includes Claire a little more. This is also where the plot and action picks up. So pelase enjoy!_

**ac-the-brain-supreme does not own Heroes, Sailor Moon, or anything. Kinda sucky, ne?**

* * *

Peter rolled out of bed, almost literally. His body's sudden shift shook him awake and nearly made him fall out of his bed. He had had another dream, something like what he had a few nights ago. Only this time, the little girl, unofficially dubbed "Polly" by their group of super-powered do-gooders, was alone and running. There was apparently a person behind her, trying to catch her because of something she was holding.

Like in the last dream, Peter hadn't gotten a good look at her face. Still, the only thing he could make out was the blond hair and that it was a young girl. And, of course, that she was holding onto something. Something apparently very precious.

Peter stood up, put on a random shirt that he had found on the ground, and walked into his kitchen. Several things were running through his mind as he moved. One was the remaining tendrils of the dream. Following closely behind was that he needed to do laundry. After that was that he needed coins for the laundry machine. After that was _Dammit, I need a job_.

Peter nearly missed the person at his kitchen table, eating his Mini Wheats. She was short enough to be practically invisible. This was why Peter nearly fell on his ass in shock when he saw his "neice" sitting at the kitchen table, staring at him with those big, green eyes of hers.

Peter pointed at the little girl. "What are you doing here?"

Claire slowly chewed on a spoonful of Mini Wheats before answering. "I wanted to spend the day with my uncle."

"I'm not your uncle!" Peter shouted, pointing at Claire. Claire stared, unfazed. "And shouldn't you be at school? Does Nathan and Heidi know where you are?"

"They think I'm at school." Claire took another spoonful of cereal. "School thinks I've transferred to somewhere better."

Peter blinked. "How'd you convince them of that?"

Claire pouted. "Why would you accuse me of something like lying to an adult?"

"You found a way of lying to my brother and his wife and making them believe it as well." Peter gestured to her. "So what story did you pull? Your mom and my brother were boyfriend and girlfriend years ago before Heidi and Nathan met?"

"No" Claire said. "I used the honest truth and told him that I was his daughter."

"But you're not!" Peter exclaimed.

"What makes you say that?" Claire asked.

"It doesn't make sense, that's why!" Peter almost yelled.

"You don't make sense" Claire retorted.

Peter felt his anger roll around inside of him. "What does that mean?"

Claire pointed an accusing spoon at him. "You say I don't make sense. What about you? You're the one who's sitting on his ass all day when he should be out defeating the bad guys like Sailor Moon is supposed to do!" She stirred her cereal with her spoon, eyes not leaving Peter. "You sit and think about how you have nothing to do and how boring your life is since Metaria was defeated. Just because you don't have a supernatural enemy doesn't mean there aren't people out there who aren't just as dangerous if not more so." Claire took a bite of Mini Wheats.

Peter stared at the little girl. How did she know all that? That he was feeling uncomfortable with going from Sailor Moon to Peter Petrelli and that he was useless now? And how he was Sailor Moon at all? Nathan sure as hell didn't tell her. He was still a little ashamed about it. Peter was sure that Heidi didn't even know. And did Claire just say "ass"?

"Who are you?" Peter asked.

"Your neice" Claire said simply.

Peter slammed his hands flat against the table top. Claire's eyes widened. "You _are not my neice_!" Peter shouted. "I don't _have_ a neice!"

"Yes you do!" Claire shouted. She stood on the chair she had been sitting on. "I am your brother's daughter, which makes me your neice!"

"Then how come I don't remember you ever existing before now?" Peter asked.

"Because..." Claire stalled. "Because..."

Peter smirked. Small victory! He got rid of it soon, though, after seeing the hurt look on Claire's face. He sighed and groaned a little. What kind of jerk celebrates making a little kid cry? No matter how much of a brat--or a potential threat--the kid may be. Peter looked back at the little blond. She was staring at the faux-wood table top with glitters in the corners of her eyes. Pity welled up inside of Peter.

The older man sat next to the blond and placed a hand on her shoulder. Claire didn't look at anywhere else other than the table top. Peter didn't want to rush her, possibly scare her, and so waited in silence until she found the voice to speak. After about two minutes, she finally managed out, "Why can't you just accept me as your neice? Things will go so much easier that way."

Peter thought about that. It would be easier to just accept Claire as his long-lost neice. It would have been, had she not revealed that she knew about the Sailor Scouts. That made her not normal. And not normal normally meant dangerous. Normally.

"Claire, I don't know who you are" Peter said calmly. Claire looked up. She opened her mouth, to say something, but Peter stopped her. "No, listen to me. I don't know who you are. To me, you showed up out of thin air. And while my brother and my sister-in-law might have accepted you--because there is still the possibility that you _are_ a long-lost child and I know Heidi's wanted a daughter since she first got pregnant--I'm going to take a little more time to know you, understand who you are." Peter leaned a little closer. "Understand?"

Claire's eyes drifted away. She shrugged. "A little." A pause, then: "Yeah, I understand. You got freaked out by the fact that I know about the Sailor Scouts."

Peter raised a finger. "And that! How do you know about the Sailor Scouts?"

Claire's eyes didn't move. "I was told about them."

"By who?"

Claire looked away. She didn't answer.

"Claire, who told you?" Peter asked.

Claire's eyes were steely when she looked back at Peter. Like if she was protecting some secret. "She wouldn't like me telling you."

"Who?" Peter's heart dropped. "Does Heidi know?"

Claire shook her head. "No." There was a pause. A sort of horror passed across Peter's face. "No, it's not grandma either" Claire said. "She doesn't even really care one way or another about the Sailor Scouts."

Peter sighed, relieved. "I'd ask how you know that, but I'm sure you wouldn't tell me."

"Nope." Claire returned to eating her forgotten cereal.

Peter looked up at Claire. What was he going to do with her? He couldn't let her stay there. Well, he could, but it wouldn't be right. Claire had somehow done something to get her pulled out of school. It was Peter's duty as a possible uncle, as a brother, to tell Nathan about Claire's school absence.

Peter got up. He went into his bedroom, put on some real clothes, and then returned to the kitchen. Claire wasn't there. Instead, she was sitting in front of the television screen, staring at the Today show, a raggedy-looking teddy bear in her lap. She was holding it so hard, it would've been dying of strangulation had it been real. Peter walked up and sat beside her.

"I have to take you back home" Peter said.

Claire stared at the TV some more. "Yeah, eventually." Her voice sounded far-off.

Peter leaned forward a bit, trying to get a better look at her face. "You want to go home now?"

Claire's head turned suddenly. Her green eyes were wide, hopeful. Peter could tell she wanted to go home. And something told him it wasn't the home he was going to be taking her to. Especially when the hope faded away and Claire looked back at the television. "Not now. Daddy wouldn't like finding out that I'm not in school."

Peter looked her up and down. "We're having a moment, aren't we?"

"You mean bonding?" Claire asked, turning from the TV again. "Yeah, I guess." Claire looked at her bear. Then she looked up at Peter. "You're not going to tell Daddy?"

"I think I have to" Peter said.

"Why?" Claire asked.

"Because I'm his brother and I need to tell him about things like this."

"He didn't tell you he was Sailor Venus."

Peter's eyes widened. "How do you--"

Claire looked at the bear. "Anyway, I won't be here for much longer. It'd be mean to make them waste their money on an education that I'm not going to use."

Peter's eyebrows rose. "You sound older than you look."

Claire's finger played with the nose of her bear. "Maybe I am."

(--)

Peter called up Mohinder. He needed to tell him this. So while Claire watched _The View_, Peter removed himself and informed Mohinder of what had happened.

"How the hell does she know about us?" Mohinder asked when Peter got to that part of his story.

Peter shrugged. "I don't know. She said someone told her about it, but she didn't say who."

"It has to be someone close to us. Do you think your brother's wife knows?"

"Claire says she doesn't."

"And since when have you trusted what Claire said? Just a few days ago, you were telling everyone to be aware of her because you thought she was evil."

"I didn't say that" Peter said. "I just told them to keep an eye on her."

"Well, you told me that you wanted to keep an eye on her because you thought she was dangerous."

"I still kind of do think she's...you know...dangerous."

Mohinder sighed. "Bring her to my apartment. Matt is at work but I'm sure that Isaac could be just as effective an interrogator."

"Good idea. I'll come over right now."

"Good. I'll see you soon."

Peter hung up. He went to the room Claire was sitting in.

She was staring at the television. Not really watching it. Staring. Her eyes and face was empty of any reaction, even as the old women started to talk about disturbing things like sex and their womanhoods. Peter wondered briefly what kind of person would watch this kind of crap. Then he remembered his mother and sister-in-law talking about it, and he felt his stomach turn at the thought of knowing someone who watched it.

Peter crouched down. "Claire, I need to take you somewhere."

Claire looked at him, eyebrow raised. "Where? And why?"

"To a friend's house and because I have to take responsibility over you."

Claire stood up and backed away. "No, I'm not going anywhere with you unless you get more specific!"

"Claire, I'm not going to do anything" Peter promised.

"Then tell me what's going on!" Claire demanded.

Peter stood up, forgetting that this was a little girl he was arguing with. "I asked you the same thing and you did the same thing: avoid the subject."

"Well...that's be cause I am a little girl!"

"You sure as hell don't act like one!"

Claire stood across from Peter, arms straight and face twisted into a pout. She gave him one quick lookover before sprinting away from Peter. Her speediness and spontaneity shocked Peter for a moment. He soon regained himself and set after her.

Claire had left the apartment, the door wide open. Peter looked up and down the hall. He didn't know which direction she had gone in, but he figured that she would go for an exit to get away from him for good. Peter went down the right hall, which lead to the stairs and the elevator. As he turned the corner, Peter caught a glimpse of the elevator doors shutting on Claire's small, blond head. Claire smiled mischeviously at him and waved. Peter cursed quietly. He sprinted to the stairs and flew down them. About halfway down, Peter thought his heart was going to bust out of his chest, but he continued. He had to catch up to Claire before she could leave the building.

What was with her, anyway. She was alternative dodgy of all personal questions, open to answer any and all questions Peter directed at her, a little girl and a grown woman.

Peter opened the doors to the ground floor, his chest heaving with needed breath. There was no one in the lobby and Peter worried briefly whether or not he had lost Claire by now.

The elevator door opened next to where Peter was standing. He looked and saw Claire walk comfortably and confidently out of the shaft. Peter smiled victoriously.

Claire turned, hearing Peter's hard breathing. Her eyes grew. Peter knew she was going to try and run again while she had the upper hand, so he sprung at her, trying to grab onto some part of the dress she was wearing. Claire had managed to get herself moving before the happened, though, and was out of the building within two seconds. Peter was close behind, though, running purely on adrenaline and the quick energy his over-exhausted muscles made in times such as this.

As with any New York side walk and small children, Claire was lost within a few moments. But Peter knew which direction she was headed in and every so often he would see a flash of her golden locks. After a few turns, made to throw him off Peter suspected, they were the only two people on the sidewalk. Claire was beginning to run low on energy, Peter could tell. He silently thanked God. He probably wouldn't have been able to run for another block.

Claire made a shard turn into a little playground. She ducked under a jungle gym and sat in the middle, pouting and panting and staring at Peter. Peter nearly fell to his knees the moment he stopped moving. He grabbed hold of the jungle gym and gasped for any air that would enter his lungs. His knees were weak and if his body just went under with sleep, well, that wouldn't be too bad.

When Peter lifted his head to look at Claire again, her face was pale and her green eyes were wide with horror. Her grip on the bear in her arms was tighter than before and her arms were shaking. "Claire..." he panted out. Claire ponited to the direction around Peter. Peter looked behind him, seeing what was freaking Claire out so much.

It looked like a person from one of the sick people from _I Am Legend_. His skin was tinged blue and his eyes had rolled to the back of his head, showing only the whites. His posture was saggy, arms hanging uselessly next to his body. His mouth hung open and a disturbing and gut-turning amount of drool was dripping out in a constant stream.

"Wh...What the hell?" Peter whispered, turning around completely and pressing his back against the jungle gym.

Claire came up next to him. She was still scared-looking and shaky. "That's a sick person" Claire informed.

"Sick? What do you mean by that?" Peter asked. "Sick as in disturbed or sick as in sick?"

"Sick as in sick" Claire responded. "There were a few people who started looking like that back at home. The illness spread pretty quickly in a slummy part of town. They were quarantined pretty quickly and were able to be healed, but I doubt that guy would get the cure he needs from a regular hospital."

"Are you saying the disease he has spreads quickly?" Peter asked.

"Just don't touch his spit" Claire said, solemn.

The sick man tilted his head, wondering what his prey was talking about.

"And the cure?" Peter asked.

"You" Claire said.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "What?"

The sick man raised his arms a little and roared. He was hungry and if his prey was going to move, he was going to strike right now!

The way the sick man moved resembled something you would see if a giant sloth try to imitate a gorilla. He was slow moving, propelled more by his dead weight arms swinging in the direction he intended on going rather than his legs actually moving. Still, even with that deterring him, he moved with enough accuracy to get where he was going and take out the person he was after.

Peter got out of the way. Claire began to climb up the jungle gym. Peter did as she was doing, meeting her at the top of the dome. The sick man stared, confused. How did they get up there, he would think if he had any concept of thought.

Peter looked down at Claire, who was almost completely upside down. "What do we do?"

Claire looked up at Peter. "Promise you won't tell Daddy."

"Claire, I went over this already--!"

"That slobber of his is what spreads the disease! This is a play park, for God's sake! Little kids could touch that and, poof, we had an epidemic!" Claire glared at him.

Peter sighed. "I promise."

"Swear on your mother's grave."

"Claire!"

"Swear it!"

The sick man seemed to understand what he was supposed to do and gripped a bar.

"I swear on my mother's grave! Now tell me _right now_!" Peter shouted.

Claire looked at the sick man as his clumsy, infected body tried to make sense of the jungle gym. "Moon Healing Escalation is all you have to do."

"And the slobber?"

The sick man let out a grunt of satisfaction as he finally figured out the mechanics of climbing.

"Loses potency two minutes after it falls out of the mouth" Claire informed.

Peter pulled out his compact, very glad he had started bringing it along again. "Gotcha!" He held the compact in the air. "Moon Power, Make-up!" The ribbons, flew out of the compact, surrounding Peter and letting off their beautiful light.

Claire's eyes widened. She suddenly remembered the stories told to her by her guardians. About how they had witnessed the awesome power of the Silver Crystal as it was being used by its true owner. Claire was sure that Peter wasn't even using the Silver Crystal at this moment, but the energy she felt, the beauty she saw, it wasn't hard to imagine what a showing of the Silver Crystal's power would be like.

The sick man stared in awe at the pretty colors because...well...they were pretty colors!

When Peter had finished transforming, the heels on his boots slipped and he nearly fell off the jungle gym. Claire squeaked in shock and fell onto the ground in shock. She stared up at her alleged uncle as he tried to pull his foot out of one of the holes. The sick man seemed to be interested in the struggling man and started to climb after him. Peter, too preoccupied with his foot, didn't notice the sick man.

"Sailor Moon!" Claire shouted at the top of her lungs. Peter looked down at her, then up at the sick man. The sick man was making a slow, but dangerously steady, progress up the jungle gym. He opened up the collar of his top and stuck his hand down the V-neck. His hand searched for a moment, Peter's eyes never leaving the dangerous, zombie-like man that was threatening Peter.

After what felt like almost a lifetime of blind searching, Peter pulled out the Moon Wand. Claire's eyes glittered when she saw it. It was so much prettier than what she had heard. Peter pointed the Moon Wand at the sick man, who took no notice of it. He was a lot closer than Peter felt comfortable with.

With the opening of the crescent pointed almost firmly at the sick man's head, Peter cried out: "Moon Healing Escalation!" The crescent shined and formed a ray of light that shot out and hit the sick man square between the eyes. The man cried out, losing his grip and falling off the jungle gym. As the sick man continued to scream out, he transformed back to, what Peter assumed to be, his normal self. His skin's blue tint faded to a more natural, and healthy, flesh color. He stopped drooling as profusely. His voice went from hoarse and primitive to a more modern wail, that soon stopped when he finally fell unconscious.

Peter stared at the man. Claire stared at him too. Claire looked up and Peter looked down.

"There's a friend of mine, Mohinder. He's sort of like the mind behind the operation. He's the one who found us all." Peter gulped. "I want us to go and talk to him. You can trust him, don't worry."

Claire smiled. She nodded. "Okay."

(--)

Once they got to Mohinder's apartment, Mohinder offered them tea. Peter declined and flopped down on a kitchen chair. Claire curled on the couch and instantly fell asleep. Mohinder looked from the little girl to Peter. "Did something happen?"

Peter turned in his chair. He pointed in the direction of the sleeping blond. "She ran away from my apartment and I had to chase her for, I don't know, five blocks before we were attacked by some freak with a disease they never taught in med school!" The arm fell. "But she...well...she knows everything about it. Symptoms, causes, origination..." Peter sighed. "That's not a normal little girl on your couch."

"Wasn't expecting her to be" Mohinder said. He crossed his kitchen to sit next to Peter. Mohinder stared at his friend while the younger of the two rolled his head backwards so that it was hanging off the back of the chair. They were both silent. Then, Peter asked, "What's that smell?"

Mohinder shifted in his chair. "That? I figured it was Matt's cologne or something."

"Nah, it smells too nice to be Matt's cologne" Peter said.

Mohinder nodded in agreement.

They fell into another long silence.

Peter was the first to move, bringing his head back up so that he could look at Mohinder. "I think Claire might be Polly."

"Why do you say that?"

"She knows about us," Peter said, beginning his list of reasons, "the Sailor Scouts I mean, she knew about the disease the guy had, she's not my neice no matter what Nathan believes or tells me, she's suspicious; hell, right before we came in here, she freaked out because she felt something in your apartment." Peter leaned forward. "That's something else. She says she can sense something in your apartment. I don't sense anything, do you or Matt?"

Mohinder shook his head. "No."

Peter placed his head on the table. "What would she sense, though? Something the others have gotten used to? Do you think she senses the power of the Sailor Scouts?"

Mohinder shrugged. "I don't know. But if Claire really is the girl we've been calling Polly, then we need to make sure that she's looked after and taken care of."

Peter nodded.

_Do-da-loo-da-do-da-la-doo-doo_

Mohinder covered his mouth to suppress the giggles at the sudden outburst of the Mexican Hat Dance. Peter blushed. He decided right then that he needed to change the ring on his cell phone. But right then, he opened the cell phone and asked, "Hello?"

_"Peter?"_

"Nathan?"

_"Peter, something's wrong with Heidi. She's really sick."_

Peter felt his gut churn. There was no way...

"With what?" Peter asked.

"What's wrong?" Mohinder whispered.

_"I don't know. No one seems to know what's wrong. Only that she's semi-catatonic and drooling a lot."_

Peter felt his heart pick up. "Do you want me to pick the kids up?"

_"Would you?"_

Peter nodded. "Er...yeah...don't worry, I'll bring everyone over. Just...just pay attention to Heidi." Peter paused. "And be careful. You don't know what she might have. You might get it."

_"Thanks Peter. I'll call back when I know what's happening."_

Peter hung up just as Nathan did. He looked at Mohinder. "You know that sickness that the man who chased me and Claire today had?"

Mohinder nodded. "Yeah..."

"Heidi has it."

On the couch, Claire hugged her bear tighter and felt guilt churn inside of her.


	4. In Hospital

_Hello everyone! Sorry the update is late, but I was away for a few days, having some much-needed summer fun! But I am back and I am delivering unto you the fourth chapter of my story._

_Okay, in this one, there is high!Isaac, angry!Nathan, Claire is answering some questions, Peter in a ladies bathroom, Bennet, and boy kissing! (If you've been reading this series, you could probably guess who it is...XD)_

**ac-the-brain-supreme does not own Heroes. If she did, she would've been at Comic-Con and she would've seen the episode!! DX**

* * *

Claire's little legs swung loosely as she sat in the hospital lobby. Her teddy bear was being choked again. Peter sat next to her, watching his older brother as he paced nervously and looked ready to yell at the first peson in white that he could find. Luckily, Peter was in a green shirt and jeans and Claire was in a pink and blue top and skirt.

Peter had tried to convince Claire to stay at the Petrelli mansion, but she insisted. She said that it was better--safer, she really said--if she stayed with him. Peter didn't know who she thought would've been protecting, herself or her adopted brothers? It didn't matter now. What did matter was if Nathan or any of the other hospital residents was going to catch the disease that had sent the man from the day before into a murderous fit.

"Nathan, sit down. You're going to have a heart attack if you don't" Peter said.

Nathan stopped his pacing and glared at his little brother. Peter stared as evenly as he could, not letting his worry flit through his eyes. Claire looked between the two older men. She squirreled further into her chair.

Nathan walked up to Peter. "You try being calm when you have a wife sick with some unknown disease."

Peter wanted to tell him that it wasn't unknown. People knew about it. He knew about it. Claire knew about it. Mohinder knew about it. Lots of people probably knew about it. It was just only three people in New York knew about it who weren't under the control of it.

Which reminded Peter...he needed to ask Claire if there was anybody who was immune to the disease. If there wasn't then...well...that wouldn't be very good.

Nathan backed off when Peter didn't say anything. A few seconds later, the doctor that had been working with Heidi walked up to Nathan. Peter could see that the doctor was beginning to drool a little. He tapped Claire on the knee and leaned in close to her. "Do you have to go to your bathroom?" he asked.

Claire had seen the drool too. "Very much. And I don't know where it is."

Peter nodded. He and Claire stood up. Peter caught his brother's attention and told him where he and Claire were going. Nathan nodded and turned back to the doctor. Peter and Claire were barely half-way out of the waiting room when they heard Nathan start screaming at the doctor. Peter took Claire's hand and they both ran off. They both seemed to know that the only thing scarier than a sick zombie person was an uncomposed Nathan.

(--)

Peter leaned against the door to the stall that Claire was sitting in. He ignored the strange stares that woman were giving him and only had to explain once or twice that he was in there because his neice was in the stall behind him. And when there were no women in the room, Claire answered as many questions as she was comfortable with.

"Don't worry, you and Nathan and the other Sailor Scouts will be immune to the sickness."

"And why's that?"

"Because of the power of the Silver Crystal. It's the best...what'd she call it? Anti...anti something. I don't know. It's the greatest medicine, I think is what she meant."

"Who is 'she'?"

"And anyone who has come into contact with the Silver Crystal," Claire continued, "is avoided by whatever the disease is made up of."

Peter blinked. "Are you saying...that it has a mind of its own?"

Behind the door, Claire nodded. She ran her fingers over the head of her teddy bear. "Yeah, basically. That's partly how it's able to spread."

"Doesn't sound like a normal disease" Peter commented.

"It's not."

Peter hesitated. "Then...what is it?"

"It's a disease" Claire said, "that was created by a man who had appeared in the city that I used to live in. He and his friends had claimed to come and help us, but their offer was turned down by the Queen Proxy--"

"Who's that?"

"She's the lady who stands in for the Queen since the Queen isn't currently capable of governing."

"Why isn't the Queen able to govern her kingdom?"

"Is that question really necessary?"

Peter realized that this was no time to get off subject, and apologized. "Sorry. Can you go back to the disease?"

"Sure, just don't veer off course again."

Peter pouted and crossed his arms.

"So the man comes and offers all his knowledge and magic if the Queen Proxy pledges loyalty to him instead of the Queen. But the Queen Proxy, she says no way and the man dissappears. Then the disease appears and nearly wipes out half the city. He comes to the Queen Proxy and claims he can control the disease and offers relief to the city as long as the Queen Proxy pledges loyalty. The Queen Proxy refuses again and uses the power of the Silver Crystal to heal everyone."

"She can use the Silver Crystal?"

"Yeah. I asked her how she could do that, but she said that it was because she was special, but she didn't explain further. Now can we go back to the disease?"

Peter sighed. Claire took that as a sign of resignation and continued.

"So the Queen Proxy healed everyone and the man swore revenge against her and the entire city. After that...well...things went downhill."

"How?"

"Someone was sent to look for Sailor Moon, right? A little girl, no less. How desperate do you think the situation is?"

"Apparently very desperate if even you realize it."

Claire flushed the toilet. The conversation was over. Time to go make sure Nathan hadn't killed anyone.

(--)

When they entered the waiting room, it was empty. The dozens of people who had milled about here only ten minutes before had dissappeared. No doctors, no patients, no nurses, no worried family members and no Nathan.

"This isn't good" Claire said. She held her teddy bear tighter to her.

Peter pulled out his cell phone. "It's probably nothing."

"You're really bad at lying, you know?"

Peter had speed dialed Nathan's cell. He brushed his hair back as he waited for Nathan to pick up. He placed a hand on Claire's head, just to make sure she didn't leave.

_"Peter?"_

"Nathan!" Peter smiled out of relief. "Where are you?"

_"Outside. I was told to leave."_

Peter's mouth went dry. He tried to produce some spit, but found it impossible. "Were you told why?"

_"No. I was just told to get the hell out. Exact words, actually. I swear, if they do anything to Heidi--"_

"Nathan, get the others and bring them over here."

_"What?"_

"Peter..." Claire tugged on Peter's shirt. Peter turned around. In front of him, the dozens of people who had been waiting in the waiting room were staring at him and Claire. Their skins were blue-tinged, their eyes were blank and glazed over and drool was pouring profusely out of their mouths. Peter held Claire's hand in a vice-like grip.

"Nathan, I'm dead serious. Get the other Scouts to the hospital as face as you can."

_"Peter, what's wrong. Is Claire with you?" _

"I have her right here. You want to talk to her?"

_"Peter, you can't talk about the Sailor Scouts in front of her!"_

"You want to talk to your daughter or not?"

Claire tugged on Peter. "No time for talking. I think we should be running." Peter looked up. The zombie-people were beginning to move towards them. Peter and Claire backed up. Peter's grip on Claire tightened.

"Nathan, just get the others and get back here." Peter hung up before Nathan could ask any more questions. He picked Claire up in his arms and ran.

"Where are we going?" Claire asked.

"Hopefully, the exit" Peter responded. He broke through the doors and stopped. Standing there, in front of the elevators, was about five of the sick people. They turned, looking at Peter with mouths open and drool dripping like a leaky faucet. Peter had to bite his tongue not to curse. He looked around. A little out of the way, he saw the sign for the staircase hanging above a plain white door. Holding tighter onto Claire, Peter rushed for the door. When he opened it, he saw, to his relief, that there was no one else in the place. He dashed down the stairs.

(--)

Nathan waited by the locked front doors. He had yet to change into Sailor Venus, wanting to have the others there before he did anything. From how worried Peter sounded over the phone, Nathan could only assume whatever was in there was something big. Something they had to prepare for.

"Nathan!" Nathan looked up to see Niki and Matt exiting a taxi cab. Matt turned briefly to shove some money into the cab driver's face before turning around and running up to Nathan. Niki was already standing next to him.

"Where's Isaac?" Nathan asked.

"We couldn't get ahold of him" Niki said. "We left him a message and moved on, since you said that it was really important."

"That's what Peter said." Nathan looked up at the hospital building. "He didn't explain anything to me, but he seemed really worried. Claire's in there too."

"So why don't we storm the castle already?" Matt asked, looking up to see what Nathan was looking at.

"Door are locked" Nathan said as if it were the answer to all problems. "I left Peter on the...fifth floor. I figured maybe we could use the Love-Me Chain to climb our way up to him and Claire."

"And in a place no one will see us climb the side of a wall in miniskirts?" Matt asked.

"If only for decency's sake" Nathan aggreed.

(--)

Peter barricaded the door to the empty hospital room as best as he could. He and Claire couldn't get infected, but that didn't mean that they couldn't be killed by the controlled people who seemed to be after them.

Peter looked at Claire. She was sitting on the bottom of an upside-down bucket. Her teddy bear was still in her arms. She looked tired. But not sleepy tired. Just...tired. Like she had had enough of this running and hiding and trickery. Peter looked away. Who the hell sent her? This was not the job for a little girl. This was for someone much older, much more capable of handling the weight of the world.

Peter took out his broach. He tossed it in the air and caught it. "I'll find a way to get rid of them. All I need is a distraction."

Claire looked up. "I could run out there and--"

"No. You'd be killed."

Claire looked away. Peter knew he shouldn't feel guilty, but he did, and he didn't know why. Peter crossed over and placed a hand on her head. "Have any other ideas? Anything that might--"

"No. I told you everything that I know" Claire cut him off. She didn't look at him. Peter made sure he didn't sigh out of dissapointment. Instead, he sat down across from Claire and tried to come up with a plan.

(--)

Isaac stepped out of the cab he had taken. He gave the man almost twice the amount he owed and staggered up to the hospital entrance. Isaac knew that it was not fun to take on physical actions while high--he'd waken up too many times naked and in strangers' apartments or covered in barf and in strangers' apartments to learn his lesson--but this was official Sailor Scout business! Peter was in trouble! He had to protect his prince after all!

Isaac smiled goofily at that thought.

When he finally stumbled up to the doors and pushed, he found that they were locked. Crud, man. But the doors were glass, so they could easily be broken down. Isaac looked around. There was nothing for him to break the door down with. Isaac scratched the back of his head, shifted his weight from foot to foot and blew air out of his mouth. Well, there goes that plan.

Isaac took out his transformation wand. Remembering the new words that Mohinder had told them to say, he shouted, "Mars Star Power, Make-up!" Isaac fell over almost immediately, but transformed nonetheless. He managed to get himself back on his feet, but almost fell over again. "Stupid heels." Isaac kicked off the heels. They were useless anyway. Isaac held his hands in front of him, pointing them like he would a gun. "Fire Soul!" A little ball of fire formed at Isaac's fingers. It formed into a colomn that was focused on the glass doors.

Isaac used to know an art buddy who used to play with glass. He would take plates of glass and a blow torch and see what he could make out of it. Most of his pieces ended up looking like warped and drippy pieces of crap. At least to Isaac. Last he heard of that guy, he was selling his drippy artwork left and right for thousands of dollars.

When Isaac stopped and looked at the goop the doors had become, he decided that his old art buddy would be proud of Isaac's attempt at "modern art."

(--)

After a quick transformation, some screwdrivers and the bucket Claire had been sitting on, Peter and Claire made their way into the air duct that had been above their heads and were now crawling through piles of dust and cobwebs to find either a way out or a safe place to stay until they found the other Sailor Scouts.

"I can't believe that you can crawl through a thing like this" Claire whispered.

"Why?"

"Well, you're not exactly the smallest person around."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"No, I'm calling you bigger than this duct could probably hold on a normal day."

"Well, I'm still here, so why don't you be quiet because-- AH!" Peter fell through a not-as-secure panel of the duct. Claire turned around and crawled back. She peered down into the room Peter had fallen in. She smiled. "Told ya!"

Peter looked up at Claire. She stuck his tongue down at him. Peter shook his head. That girl went through more mood swings than a pregnant lady.

"Uuuuuh..."

Peter looked at the bed. He stood up. Heidi. Wait...when'd they go up a level? Maybe they moved her? Oh, who cares. Peter stood up. He pulled out the Crescent Moon Wand.

"Peter?"

Peter pointed the wand at Heidi, who was lying very still. Since she's constantly in close contact with someone who has had first- or second-hand experience with the Silver Crystal, Peter guessed her body was fighting off the sickness all on its own, but a little help never hurt anyone.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

Claire jumped down into the room. She looked to the bed and saw Heidi and looked away. "I'll find something to wipe the drool away with" she offered.

"Don't bother" Peter said. He sat next to Heidi and used the blanket she was laying on. "You'd have to leave to find something not already damp and that's the last thing I would allow you to do right now." Peter looked up at Claire while he was wiping Heidi's face clean. She was looking at the door, as if expecting it to break down.

Peter pressed his lips together for a moment, then continued, "This isn't your fault."

Claire looked up at him, then looked back to the door. "How do you know that?"

"How old are you?"

"Six years old."

It shocked Peter slightly that she was six, but he continued. "How is a six year old responsible for the spread of a disease from another world?"

"How do you know it's from another world?"

"Will you stop asking questions!"

"Only when you stop making me ask them!"

Peter hung his head. Claire couldn't help but smile. It was fun to annoy Peter.

Peter and Claire turned abruptly when they heard loud knocks at the door, like someone was trying to force their way in. Claire backed away and Peter stepped closer, Crescent Moon Wand drawn and pointed at the door. Claire scurried behind him, holding her bear close to her chest in one arm while grasping Peter's pant leg with another. The person on the other side of the door banged on it some more. Finally, after a third attempt at ramming the door down, they figured out that the door was, in fact, unlocked, and turned the knob. Peter held his breath. The door opened slowly, and Peter half-expected a creak to come from the hinges.

Peter lowered his arms when he saw a barefooted Isaac-as-Sailor-Mars walk into the room like his muscles were jello instead of protein. "Isaac!" Peter cried. "Where are the others?"

Isaac shrugged. "I dunno, man. Didn't come with them."

"Why not?" Isaac approached Peter, not answering the other man's question. When Isaac was close enough, Peter noticed his dilated pupils. "Isaac, is something wrong?" Isaac stepped up to Peter, invading his private space. "Isaac..."

Isaac ran a gloved hand down the side of Peter's face. "You are..." Isaac's eyes moved up and down Peter's body. Isaac swayed a little. "Have you ever been told how hot you look in your Sailor Moon uniform?"

Peter blushed. "Wh...What?!" Claire giggled as she backed away from the two Sailor Scouts.

"So, so hot" Isaac said, ignoring Peter again. One hand slid behind Peter's back, sitting right where the skit started. The other hand, the one that had stroked Peter's cheek, gently held his chin. "I haven't been able to scrounge together the courage to tell you, but I would love to just fuck you into the next decade." Isaac leaned in then, almost falling over completely, and pressed his lips to Peter's.

Peter's mouth fell open. Isaac leaned forward, trying to deepen the kiss, but the looseness that the heroin brought him finally forced him off his feet and on top of Peter.

Claire stared, growing uncomfortable by the second. She had never seen two men kiss before. It was...like Lordess and her husband kissing. Except with the falling all over each other and stuff. Claire buried her face in the top of her bear's head.

"Isaac!" Peter cried, pushing the other man up. Isaac sat on his knees for a moment, then fell over once Peter let go. "Isaac!" he yelled again.

"I ain't even doin' anything to you yet, Princess!" Isaac said, jokingly. He grabbed at Peter's skit and tugged on it, trying to keep Peter close.

"Isaac, let me go!" There was a moan from outside the room. Peter felt his heart stop for a moment. He tugged on his skirt again. "Isaac, let go of me! I need to protect everyone!"

"Everyone, everyone, everyone! Dammit, Peter, think of yourself!" Isaac shouted.

"I am! I'm think that if I don't get out from under you--"

"A place I believe you are quite fond of..."

Peter blushed. He looked into Isaac's dilated eyes. He frowned. "I thought Nathan was wrong about you." Using all his strength, Peter pushed Isaac off of him. He got up quickly, just in case Isaac tried to grab at him again, and moved to the door. He turned to Claire before leaving and said, "I'll find Nathan and the others. Make sure Isaac doesn't hurt himself and that none of the infected get in."

Claire nodded. Isaac sat up, looking confused. "Where are you going?"

Peter looked at him. "I'm going to do my job." Peter closed the door and ran out into the frighteningly empty hall. Claire never said anything about the disease killing anyone, so he only had to assume he had plenty of time to save them all.

(--)

Matt was the first person to climb through the window. He was followed by Niki, who was followed by Nathan. They had ended up in an utility closet. Surrounding them were cold grey shelves covered in dirty rags, buckets, cleaning solutions, and other things that stunk.

Matt moved up to the door. "C'mon," he said, while opening it. "Let's..." Matt paused.

"What?" Niki asked. She peeked over his shoulder. "Oh...my..."

Nathan squeezed in front of them and opened the door all the way. His eyes widened at the sight of dozoens of blue-skinned, drooling, catatonic people staring at them. Nathan closed the door again. He turned to the others. "Any ideas?"

(--)

Peter held his Moon Wand up, looking like a police man looking for an armed and dangerous person who could melt into shadows. The hospital was quiet. Way too quiet. At least this floor was. That was never a good thing, if all those horror movies Peter had forced Nathan to watch in their youth had any truth to them.

"Hello?" Peter called out. He looked around some more, head turning slowly.

A hand touched Peter's shoulder. He felt his muscles tense, knuckles going white on the handle of the Moon Wand. He took a deep breath, not sure if he was going to scream or turn around.

The hand clenched Peter's shoulder. He decided he was going to scream, but a voice stopped him. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Peter turned around, wanting to see who it was who was apparently not going to hurt him. It was an older man, with horn-rimmed glassed, brown coiffed hair, and something suspicious about him. He was holding a wooden stick in one hand and half a hazmat suit covering him. Peter swallowed before asking, "Who are you?"

"I was able to lock the sick in the hospital rooms on this floor and knock out all the others."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Someone you can trust."

"That's still not answering my question."

The man smiled. "Lordess told me you would be stubborn."

Peter narrowed his eyes. "Who is Lordess?"

"A friend of mine" the man said. "Someone you can trust."

"You don't like answering questions, do you?"

"I only questions I don't like." The man tapped the Moon Wand. "You can put the down, you know? It's starting to make me uncomfortable."

"Sorry that I value my life" Peter said.

"As you should. You're going to do a lot of good things over the next few years."

Peter blinked at the stranger. "How do you know that? Who are you?"

The man stayed silent. He looked around and took a deep breath before turning back to Peter. "Is Claire okay?"

Peter's stomach flipped. "I don't know who you're--" Peter stopped, after he noticed the smile growing on the man's face. He knew he was lying. Peter took a step back. He could go back to Isaac and Claire, but that would be too dangerous. There was something obviously wrong with this man.

"Never let your guard down, Sailor Moon. You never know who you are going to run into." The man looked away. "Right. Do you have the Silver Crystal with you?" Peter didn't answer. The man looked at Peter, then back in the direction he was looking in before. "Okay then, if you do, it'd make things go a lot faster. The power of the Crystal will wipe out the disease in all of the people in each of these rooms. After that, we can move onto the other floors. I already secured the two above this one, but the three below we're going to have to go through together." The man looked at Peter.

"When did you get here?"

"Last night, an hour after your sister-in-law got here."

"Were you able to save anyone from being infected."

"I locked them all upstairs."

"Why?"

"To be safe." The man pushed the glasses further up his nose. "Well, let's get going. Lots of people to cure, not so much time to do it!"

(--)

"Supreme Thunder!"

"Frozen Shine Aqua Illusion!"

"Venus Love-Me Chain!"

"Nathan, there's a door over there!"

"Good, now let's find Peter!"

(--)

Claire pulled on the bedsheet that kept Isaac tied to the bedpost.

"You know, it's not nice for little girls to tie up people" Isaac scolded. His head flopped to one side.

"Yeah, yeah" she murmured, plopping down across from Isaac when she was done.

(--)

The man in the horn-rimmed glasses closed the door. "Last room. Good job, Peter. That's the last of this floor. Where do you want to go now? Up or down?"

Peter looked down the hallway, then back up it. "Let's go down. Get the difficult parts done first."

"Good thinking. Let's go."

(--)

Nathan ran up the stairs, followed closely by Niki and Matt. They heard the door open a level up and stopped, worrying that it was one of those zombie-things. Niki and Matt raised their arms, preparing for another confrontation. When they saw that it was only Peter and some weirdo in a hazmat suit, they let their hands fall.

"Pe--"

"Nate, follow me, we need crowd control!" Peter said as he ran down the stairs and opened the door Nathan and the others just came out of. Peter stopped, Hazmat Man running into his back because of the sudden stop. The two of them backed up as the blue zombie-people slowly approached and entered the room. Peter raised the Moon Wand, pointing it at the sick people. "Moon Healing Escalation!" Nathan, Niki, Matt and Hazmat Man covered their eyes as a light brighter than anything else they had ever seen before. When the light faded, the blue people were lying on the floor, wet with their own drool and normal-colored.

"C'mon guys!" Peter shouted to the Sailor Scouts behind him before running onto the floor.

(--)

Claire had just beaten Isaac in their tenth staring contest. Claire doubted if Isaac knew, though. He was still strung-out seeming and probably thought that the ponies had already declared him a winner.

"You're..." Isaac blew air past his lips. "You...never let go of that thing...do ya?"

"What do you mean?"

Isaac lethargically pointed at her. "The bear. I've never seen you without it."

"How many times have you ever seen me?"

Isaac paused. Claire wasn't sure whether or not it was because he was processing the question of if the ponies were doing something interesting behind her.

Claire's head snapped to the door. It opened and in walked the rest of the Sailor Scouts, all looking tired and ready to go home. Peter was the first to come into the room, then a pretty blond lady, a fat man, Nathan, then the man in the horn-rimmed glasses and the hazmat suit.

Claire's eyes widened. She got onto her feet and ran to the group. "Daddy!"

Nathan smiled. He began to bend down, but Claire ignored him. Instead, she ran into the open arms of the man in the hazmat suit. Nathan and Peter stared in shock and disbelief as Claire clung to him and as he picked her up and held her close. "Ah, Claire, I was so worried about you!"

"Hey!" Nathan yelled. "What are you doing with my daugther?"

Claire and the man that was holding her looked at Nathan. Without a word, Claire clapped her hands twice. Nathan's angry face melted away as he fell to the floor, becoming unconscious.

"Nathan!" Peter and Niki kneeled by Nathan's side, making sure that he was still breathing. He was. Once assured of that fact, Peter turned to Claire and the man. "Who are you?"

Claire buried her face into the man's neck. "My name is Noah Bennet" the man replied. "This is my daugther, Claire, and we need your help, Sailor Moon."


	5. A Foot in the Door

Mohinder had been relaxing on his couch, enjoying the moment of silence while everyone was at work or visiting Heidi, when the door opened. Actually, it wan't just opened. It was slammed open. Mohinder nearly fell off the couch, the tight grip he had on the arm of the couch keeping him on. He stayed very still for a moment, waiting for whoever it was to give him a clue as to who they were and whether Mohinder should get a butcher knife.

"Mohinder?"

Oh, it was just Peter.

Mohinder let go and fell off the couch. It didn't hurt as much as he'd expected. He got up and walked out into the front room, where he saw something quite strange. Peter and Niki were supporting Isaac, who looked like dead weight on their shoulders. Niki looked concerned, Peter looked pissed as hell. Behind them, Matt and a man with horn-rimmed glasses carried Nathan in, who also looked like dead weight. Behind them was Claire, holding her teddy bear. She quickly stepped through the door and stood against the wall right next to it, a curious light in her eyes.

Mohinder closed the door. He watched Peter and Niki dump Isaac, who apparantly was still awake, though staring at the ceiling like he could see through it, in an arm chair. Horn-rimmed Glasses Man and Matt walked Nathan over to the couch and laid him on his back a little more gently than how Niki and Peter placed Isaac on the arm chair.

"What happened?" Mohinder asked, closing the door.

Claire looked up at him and said, "The zombies tried to kill us at the hospital, but then Daddy came and he helped save the day and Isaac over there started seeing ponies while he was tied up on a bed."

Mohinder stared at Claire. He looked up at Peter. "What happened?" he repeated.

Peter looked at the opposite wall for a moment, thinking about his answering, before turning to Mohinder and saying, "The zombie tried to kill us at the hospital, but then Claire's dad"--Peter gestured to Horn-rimmed Glasses Man--"helped save the day and Isaac"--Peter pointed to Isaac, a hint of dissappointment in his voice--"had to be tied to a bed to make sure he didn't kill anyone."

"What's wrong with him" Mohinder asked, gesturing to Isaac.

"Tripping" Peter said curtly, angrily.

"And Nathan?"

"De-hypnotization" Claire's dad, Claire's real dad, said. "It takes a few minutes, two hours at most, but he'll be himself once he wakes up." Mr. Bennet stood up. "Well, I should be going." He turned to Peter. "I'll meet you tomorrow morning so we can plan."

"What? Where?"

Bennet picked Claire up. "The coffee shop you always go to, nine o'clock, and I'll explain the rest when I meet you there." Bennet opened the door. Claire waved at the others over his shoulder before Bennet walked out and closed the door.

Peter ran a hand through his hair. He looked at Isaac, splayed out on the armchair, nearly asleep. Mohinder noticed the shudder in the breath Peter took before addressing the other awake people in the room. "Okay...Matt, I need you to come with me to Isaac apartment." Matt looked up and nodded silently. Peter turned to Mohinder. "I need you"--he turned and pointed at Niki--"and you to stay here and keep an eye on both Nathan and Isaac. Make sure Isaac doesn't leave. I don't care if you have to tie him down, do not let him out of this apartment until Matt and I return." Mohinder nodded. Niki just stared at Isaac. Peter pressed his lips together, then gestured for Matt to follow before leaving.

(--)

"Wait...what?" Peter asked quietly over his coffee. He was sitting across from Bennet. It was the next morning and he was a little tired from his complete and thurough search of Isaac's apartment for anything resembling drugs. He and Matt had unfortunately stumbled upon heroin, a few syringes--some used, some not--and other paraphanilia. The initial search took about an hour and the second one, the one to make sure everythign was found, took about another hour. Then he called Niki over to make sure it was all destroyed. When that was done, they went back to Mohinder's apartment to make sure Isaac was okay, which he was, until they told him the drugs were gone and he wasn't going anywhere near them ever again. That did not go over well. Neither was he too fond of Nathan--who had woken up by the time Niki was called over to Isaac's apartment--tying him down with the Love-Me Chain.

"I'll be escorting you and the Sailor Scouts to the future where Claire and I are from so that you can defeat Wiseman, the man who has been challenging and threatening our way of life." The frightening thing was that Bennet said that all so casually. Almost like he was telling Peter what he did the night before after leaving Mohinder's apartment.

Peter ran a hand down his face. "Okay...what do we have to do to defeat him?"

"Don't know." Bennet poured a second sugar packet into his coffee.

Peter stared at him. "What do you mean you 'don't know'?"

"I mean that I haven't the slightest clue as to how to defeat Wiseman. All I know is that Lordess was more than assured that you were our only ticket to freedom." Bennet took a sip from his oversized mug. "Mm...lovely coffee."

"Who's Lordess?"

"You'll meet her soon since we're leaving tonight."

"No."

Bennet looked up. "Pardon?"

"We're not leaving tonight."

Bennet stared at Peter for a moment. He set his mug down with a sigh. He removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose before returning his gaze to Peter. "Why not?"

"One of our team isn't ready to go."

"The guy you dragged in because he was high as a kite?"

Peter felt his stomach roll. "Yes."

Bennet replaced his glasses. "Peter...the way we go back to the future is that I have a special key. That key gets us through the gates to all Time and Space because, believe me, the person gaurding them is an old school hardass. That key only works on nights of the full moon. We have to go on this cycle of the full moon. If not, we have to wait a month. We don't have a month because of a junkie."

"He's not a junkie." Peter's hand was clenched in a tight fist and his face was turning pink. "Isaac is my friend. He was my first team mate. He's a valuable part of the team."

"I don't care if he's your dying mother, we don't have the time to wait for him to get clean."

Oh, how Peter wanted to punch this man. He was too calm, too professional. He didn't understand why Peter was so worried about Isaac. He didn't understand what it was like to think about someone constantly. He didn't understand that heroin was a bitch to detox from and that Isaac was going to need as much support and help from the people around him as he could get. He...he didn't understand.

"The full moon is here for another four nights."

"I'm not waiting four nights. We need to leave for the future as soon as humanly possible. With or without Isaac."

Peter looked away. "Give me tonight and tomorrow night. That gives me three days to get Isaac right. That might just be long enough to get him right again."

"And if he's not, he's staying behind" Bennet said sternly. He took his coffee and took a long drink out of it.

(--)

Isaac glared at Peter. "Why the hell are you looking at me like that?"

"To make sure you don't hurt yourself."

Isaac gestured to the cloth that was tying his arms and legs to the dinning room chair he was sitting in. "Kinda hard to do that when you can't even move your arms."

Peter contined to glare at him. Isaac glared back. Long moments passed. During them, Peter noticed that Isaac was shaking and sweating profusely. "Are you hungry or thirsty?"

"I hate you" Isaac growled.

Peter stared for a moment longer. Then he got up and crossed over to him, carrying a plate of cookies and a glass of water. Peter sat down in the chair next to Isaac and picked up a cookie. "You should eat."

Isaac stared in front of him, not moving, not saying anything. Peter rolled his eyes, but he honestly was worried. "Isaac, please...you need to get better."

"I don't need your help for that."

"Really? Would you rather we place you in a rehab for a month or two?"

"I would rather just do it by myself."

"I won't let you."

"Why?" Isaac turned to Peter. "You got rid of everything. All you need to do is take away my wallet and you don't have to worry about me getting anymore!"

Peter stared at Isaac. "There's a chance that you have some heroin hidden somewhere."

Isaac looked like he was ready to kill Peter. "So that's it? You don't trust me?"

Peter didn't answer. Isaac let his head fall back as he groaned. "Why the hell don't you trust me? I'm your friend!"

"You were doing heroin!"

"I've been doing heroin for years, Peter!" Isaac shouted. He took a deep breath. "I...I've tried so many times to stop, and for so many different reasons. For my mom, for myself, for my career, for this girl, for that girl, for my health, for Simone... I've been to more rehabs than I care to think about. I...I can't stop."

Without hesitation, Peter wrapped his arms around Isaac. "Yes you can. I can tell you really want to stop. I'll help you."

Isaac relaxed his head into Peter and noticed the weird scent of his antipersperant.

(--)

Everyone watched as Isaac's muscles spasmed against the bonds tying him to the chair. The sun was setting on the first day of trying to get Isaac sober and he was facing his first rouch patch.

Peter had instructed everyone to stand back to make sure no one got hurt. That was the last thing they needed, someone wanting to help Isaac feel better and one, or both, of them getting hurt. No, it was better that Isaac struggle against his bonds by himself, pleading for someone to loosen the cloth or to get him anything to relieve the pain.

Niki left in tears, saying that this was too much for her.

Nathan left soon after her, telling them that it was dinner time and he promised Heidi he'd be back the first night she was there.

It was almost an hour before Isaac finally fell unconscious, mumbling as he slept.

Peter pat down Isaac's flushed face with a warm wet towel. He heard Matt say, "There has to be an easier way." Peter thought of the Moon Wand and its healing powers, but shoved it to the back of his mind.

"I don't think there is" Mohinder responded.

"What about the Moon Wand?" Matt suggested. "It healed all those sick people, why can't it wipe the heroin out of Isaac's system?"

Peter stilled for a moment. He felt eyes on his back. "I..."

"Why not?" Mohinder asked. "It's only fair."

"But...he needs to fight it for himself" Peter said.

"As what, punishment?" Matt asked.

"No..."

"Then what?" Matt asked.

Peter didn't answer. Instead, he walked back to the kitchen to place the rag he had been using in the sink. He was followed by Matt and Mohinder.

"Peter" Mohinder said softly, "he's not going to get better by the deadline you told to me. At least not well enough to fight. If you use the Moon Wand, though, he could be well enough to help you fight that Wiseman guy."

"Besides, Peter, you've seen him! He's really sick, really weak. You're a nurse! Aren't you supposed to help those who are sick and make them feel better and stuff?!" Matt pointed out.

"Okay!" Peter cried. He took a deep breath and gripped the counter. "Okay...I'll ask him next time he wakes up."

(--)

Isaac woke up to see he had been moved. He was still tied to the chair, but the location of the chair had changed from the dinning room to the living room. To be exact, next to the couch where Peter was now sleeping. There was a crick in Isaac's neck that made it a pain to move. So he sat there, head tilted to the left, towards the kitchen, eyes moving around the room, looking for anything interesting to look at while he waited for someone to notice that he was awake.

It was probably another half hour before someone came into the room. It was Mohinder, in his pajamas, with a hunger for some late-night tea and cookies. When he noticed, he squinted at Isaac. "You awake?"

"Yep."

He pointed to the restraints. "Do you want me to..."

"Yes. I can't feel my...anything anymore."

Mohinder obliged. He walked over and undid the rags that were keeping Isaac tied to the legs and back of the chair. Once he was free, Isaac got up and stumbled around the room, shaking his arms, getting the feeling back into his limbs. "What are you doing up so late?" Isaac asked.

Mohinder ran a hand through his hair. "I couldn't sleep." Mohinder stared at Isaac for a moment longer. "You seem very put-together considering how you were earlier."

"Actually, I feel like crap" Isaac admitted. "But I think I made it through the first rough patch. They come and go."

"Really? I just thought that Peter already used the Moon Wand on you."

Isaac stopped pacing. "He was going to do what?"

"Matt and I suggested that he use the Moon Wand to get the rest of the heroin out of your system since we all don't think you could get well enough in the very little time you have until you go to the future to defeat Wiseman."

Isaac blinked. "Man, if I haven't seen the shit I've already seen, I'd tell you to go to a shrink."

"Being mentally unsound is part of being a Sailor Scout."

Isaac gave a quick nod. "He was really going to use the Moon Wand?"

Mohinder shrugged. "He wanted your permission first. He seemed very reluctant, though."

Isaac started his pacing and hand-shaking again. "Well, chances are that next time I piss I'll get the rest of the heroin out of me, but then we have the actual withdrawal to deal with, and that sucks ass."

"How do you know?"

Isaac smirked. "Not the first time I've attempted at getting clean. First time I'm gonna make it stick, though."

"That's good to hear."

Isaac nodded. He was behind the couch Peter was sleeping on. "Maybe he thought the withdrawal would be worse."

"If he tried to help you?"

"Yeah." Isaac looked down at Peter. "The sudden disappeance of something my body has gotten so used to might make my body want to crave it more, making the fight against the withdrawal harder. Might even put me into shock."

"Oh...so he was looking out for your better interests..." Mohinder looked at Peter for a moment, then moved back to getting himself some tea. "Do you want something to eat?"

"Yes!"

(--)

Next time Peter was awake, Isaac was curled in the arm chair, sweating profusely and shaking. Peter sat up quickly and rushed to Isaac's side.

"Morning sunshine" Isaac greeted.

Peter checked Isaac's temperature, tried to wipe some sweat up, pushed the other's hair back. "Sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"You needed it" Isaac said with a smile. "Taking care of my junkie ass..."

The emotion in Peter's eyes was enough to shut Isaac up. "Who let you out?" Peter asked.

"Mohinder came round here a few hours ago and untied me since I was awake. Then he gave me tea and cookies and then I forced him to make me a real breakfast."

"What did you have?"

"Eggs and toast" Isaac said with a hint of pleasure. Peter smiled. Isaac's head tipped back. "Ah...God..."

"Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No, I'm okay." There was a pause, wherein Peter ran off to get something to wipe the sweat away. When he returned, Isaac told him, "Mohinder told me about the suggestion about the Moon Wand."

Peter didn't answer right away. Instead, he moped up some of the sweat pooling on Isaac's forehead. Isaac stared at Peter, trying to break him down with his mind. It apparently worked, because Peter looked up and into Isaac's eyes. "Would you like to?"

Instantly, Isaac shook his head. "No."

Peter smiled and looked down. "I thought you would say that."

"Mohinder told me about your reluctance. You knew that it would make withdrawal worse, didn't you?"

Peter shrugged. "I didn't think about that, to be honest. I was reluctant because I thought you'd see is as a blow to your pride. But seeing as how have the fight is in the mind, I guess it would make withdrawal worse."

Isaac closed his eyes. "I'm not surprised you're a nurse."

"Really?"

"Yep. You're really good at this."

"Taking care of people?"

"Yep."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

(--)

One more night passed. By the end of the third day, Isaac was out cold, just like he should have been. Today had been one of the worst days, but Peter had promised Mohinder that after this last hill, it'll all get smoother. If he was able to stay in the apartment through this, then he had a chance at fully making a recovery.

Mohinder noticed that, as hopeful as Peter was, he still sounded sad, tired. That was when Mohinder grabbed Peter's shoulders and squeezed them reassuringly. "Don't worry, Peter. You need to focus on the task at hand, not what's going on here."

"I know but..." Peter took a deep breath. "You're right. I need to clear my head. It's just really hard. It feels sort of wrong without all of us there."

"Too bad. You need to go and fulfill your duty."

So, at half past eleven, Peter, Nathan, Niki, and Matt climbed into Nathan's car and drove from Mohinder's apartment to Central Park where Peter had agreed would be the meeting point for them and the Bennets. The ride was silent, somber, and as Peter guided them into the Park, that demeanor stuck around.

They found Bennet and Claire on one of the larger rocks in the park. Claire was drawing something on it in chalk, teddy bear still in arm, while Bennet stood with arms tucked away in coat pockets, ominous against the background of the moon. Peter wondered for just a moment if he was sending himself and his friends to their doom, but struck the thought down. If he showed any sign of doubt, then the others wouldn't want to go through with this.

Peter stepped up to Bennet. "Noah."

"Peter." Bennet looked around. "I see you're missing one."

Peter's fists clenched. "He's si--"

"Isaac!"

Everyone, except for Niki since she had already done it, turned around to witness Isaac, white as his canvases and drenched in sweat, as he jogged up to everybody. "Sorry...I'm late." Isaac's legs shook as he stood in the back of the group, panting for his breath. "I had to...wait...until Mohinder...wasn't paying attention."

"Hm...I guess you were right, Peter." Bennet said. Peter wanted to respond, but he was stuck between demanding Isaac back to Mohinder's apartment and hugging him.

Meanwhile, Bennet called Claire to his side. Claire obeyed, one hand clutched on his pant leg as he dug through one of his pockets. He pulled out a key-like object. Small, silver or white gold, ornate, and on one end was the symbol of the Old Moon Kingdom locked in an infinity symbol, a small pearl hanging from a string on this end. Bennet handed the key down to Claire, who took it in the hand that didn't have the bear and quickly moved away. Bennet turned around and stood back, watching his daughter as she held the key in her hand.

"What's she doing?" Matt asked.

"She's opening the door that'll take us to our home" Bennet said. The key began to glow. "Any travel between eras is strictly observed by Sailor Pluto."

"Sailor Pluto?" Nathan questioned.

The key began to float in the air. "Sailor Pluto controls all of time. He's the old school hardass I told you about, Peter. The last possibly living remnant of the Old Moon Kingdom."

"Possibly living?" Matt asked.

"Lordess says that there are two active Plutos at once. The older one protects the Gates, the newer one works with the other Sailor Scouts on Earth. Whenever the newer one has finished his or her work, they move onto the Gates. Lordess didn't explain to me whether they die or not" Bennet explained. A solidifying object was appearing in front of Claire. It was tall and rectangular and featureless.

"Who is Lordess?" Niki asked.

"You'll meet her soon. I think you all will like her."

A bright light caught everyone's attention. They looked to see that Claire had opened the doorway and was just standing there, staring into the light. Bennet approached his daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder. Together they stood, staring into the light. Then, Bennet turned and said to the Sailor Scouts, "This is it. Once you step through this door, you're not coming back until you fulfill your promise to help free us from Wiseman. So, anyone who wants to stay behind?" There was no response. Bennet nodded. "You have a good team here, Peter." Then Bennet turned his back on the others and walked through the door, hand on Claire's shoulder.

Before they went in, Peter turned to the others. "Guys...whatever happens in the future, I just want you all to know that you were the best team mates I could have ever asked for."

"You sound like we're going off to our death" Nathan quipped.

Peter wanted to tell him that they could be, but didn't.

"Besides, how can this Wiseman guy be any worse than Metaria?" Niki asked. "She could eat you. She _did_ eat you, in fact, and you're still here."

Peter smiled. "Is there anything anyone else wants to say?"

Isaac stepped up to Peter. He placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned in close. "Peter..."

Peter's heart began to beat faster. "Y-Yeah?"

Isaac squeezed Peter's shoulder. "Shut up." Isaac walked past Peter and through the doorway. Peter stood, a little stunned, then broke into a huge smile. Peter followed Isaac, climbing through the doorway, followed closely behind by the rest of the Sailor Scouts.


	6. Outside the City Walls

The place right behind the doors was the purest white. It almost created its own light. It wouldn't be surprising if it did create its own light. There was no visible ground and nothing that stuck out as a sky. It was like they were walking on air.

Peter moved a little quicker so he could catch up to Bennet, who was closely following Claire, who was following the direction of the pearl that was on the key and which was now floating in mid-air.

"That thing is going to take us to where ever we are supposed to go, right?" Peter asked.

"It'll take us to Sailor Pluto" Bennet said. "Once we get to him, he'll get us to the future."

"And is there anything we should expect?" Peter asked. "You know, to get us prepared."

"When I left, things were going to Hell in a speedy handbasket. Since it's been a few days, I wouldn't be surprised if things look like they've been blitzed." He said it calmly, but Peter could sense the anger and annoyance at the delay in time he had to wait through. Peter slowed his step so that he was a few paces behind Bennet and a few in front of Nathan, who was leading the group of Sailor Scouts.

Peter didn't know how long they had been walking. He had checked his watch several times to see how long, but each time it was always eleven fifty-two. The time he had stepped through the door. It was after the third check that Peter realized that there was no such thing as time in this place, which bothered him on several levels.

"Look!" Everyone looked up at Claire's delighted shout. She rushed ahead, towards a pair of dark figures. One was definitely a human who was holding a tall staff. They were standing next to a large rectangular figure that had to be another set of doors, these leading to the devastated city Claire and Bennet had just come from. Peter's heart began to beat faster. Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of Time, the very last remnant of the Old Moon Kingdom, was just a few feet away and becoming closer with each step. It was exciting.

Peter moved forward and fell in stride with Bennet. Soon, Sailor Pluto's features became more and more distinct.

He was a little short, definitely shorter than his staff, and wore the standard Sailor Scout uniform. White leotard, skirt, bow, boots, gloves. His skirt, boots, bow, and the tops of his gloves were black while the gems at the center of the bow and on his tiara were garnet-colored. He had short black hair that was brushed back professionally. He was round-faced and Asian and stared them all down like they were all on trial.

Claire stopped in front of Sailor Pluto. He looked down at her, his expression softening. "Hello Small Lady." Sailor Pluto bent down on one knee so that he was face-to-face with Claire. "I am glad to see that you are well."

"I'm glad to see you again too!" Claire held up the key. "I never thanked you for guiding me to the past the first time I was here."

Sailor Pluto gave Claire a small smile. "It was a pleasure, Small Lady. I would do anything for the Kingdom." He took the key out of her hand as she smiled back at him. As Bennet stepped up behind Claire, Sailor Pluto stood up. All the sweetness he had shown with Claire was gone now. "You took longer than I expected."

"There was a problem with one of the Sailor Scouts and Sailor Moon wanted to wait until he was better before coming."

"That sounds like Sailor Moon." Sailor Pluto looked towards Peter. "You look exactly like him."

Peter became confused. "Him?"

"Prince Endymion" Sailor Pluto said coldly. "I hope that you are not as foolish as he was."

Peter's ears burned. "I am not, I assure you."

Sailor Pluto gave Peter a one-over. He turned around, then, and placed the blade of the key in the only key hole. The doors opened, revealing a frightening darkness that was the polar opposite of the pure whiteness that surrounded them. Peter heard Claire whimper and grab the leg of his pants and the leg of Bennet's pants.

Sailor Pluto turned back to them. "This door will lead you to the land right outside the Fortress. Lordess should sense you when you touch down and recieve you. Wiseman turned the last of his minions into a monster. She will kill you if you are not careful."

"Thank you, Pluto" Claire said, bowing slightly.

Sailor Pluto smiled. "Just remember, Small Lady, a lot of people care about you."

Bennet bent down and picked Claire up. "Thank you, Sailor Pluto."

Sailor Pluto nodded coldly at him. Bennet walked up to the door and fell in soundlessly.

Peter's eyes grew. He looked to the Scouts behind him. Niki, Matt, and Isaac all looked as shocked and scared as he probably looked and felt. Nathan was as professional as ever. He gestured for Peter to go first. Peter made a face. He stepped up to the door and made sure he didn't look down as he stepped into the abyss.

(--)

The landing was much more pleasant than Peter would have imagined. Of course, he imagined himself all over the ground, so when he survived, though he landed on his ass, he considered it better than what could have been.

Peter stands up and looks around. There were remains of houses all around him. Some were still smoking, others have been destroyed long before any of them arrived. The road they were standing on was made of marble and lead to a set of marble stairs decorated by decapitated statues and crushed flower pots. Behind him, he hears Nathan land on his feet. "What happened?" Nathan whispered.

Bennet, with Claire, steps up to them. Niki lands gracefully behind them. "There was a battle here. We were just able to defeat them."

Matt landed behind them. Right after him, Isaac landed, lying on his back for a moment or two before getting up on shaky feet.

Peter looked up at the sky. It was dark and cloudy and something didn't settle well with him. "Maybe we should transform" he suggested.

"Not a bad idea," Bennet agreed. "Pluto said that there was a monster around here, so be careful, it may notice the blast of energy."

Peter pulled out his broach. With his peripheral vision, he saw that everyone else had taken out their transformation wands. He lifted his broach in the air and said, "Moon Crystal Power, Make-up!" When the broach lit up, he heard and saw the others following his example.

"Venus Power, Make-up!"

"Mercury Power, Make-up!"

"Jupiter Power, Make-up!"

"Mars Power, Make-up!"

Peter turned to Bennet. "Where do we go?"

Bennet pointed behind him. "Up the stairs. Lordess should know by now that we're here."

Niki looked at the steps and the nothing that was at the end. "Why can't she just meet us down here?"

"There's a barrier surrounding the Fortress. It makes everything inside it invisible to the outside and vice versa." Bennet let go of Claire's hand for a moment to grab something out of his pocket. In that one second, Claire took off, running as fast as she could up the stairs to where the Fortress supposedly stood. "Claire!" Bennet ran after her. Peter and the others took off after them.

There was a great roar that shook the ground. It was like the caw of a raven. The Sailor Scouts looked to the sky and saw something sleek and with wings and a pair of back legs. From the ground, the entire thing looked black, but more features began to form as it started to land. The entire thing was scaly. The belly was acid-green and the rest of it was pitch-black. The wings had to be fifteen feet long, each, and, head-to-tail, it might have been thirty feet. There were huge, brown, dirty claws on its feet and little talons on the ends of its wings. The dragon looked down on the Sailor Scouts, cawing yet again. It had a birdish head, beak included, and two little horns at the top of its head.

Niki pressed her hands together. The antenna in her tiara rose. "Supreme Thunder!" The stream of lightning shot out in the direction of her pointing hands. The dragon, always moving in a circle, just barely missed the attack. It lost its place in the sky and fell. It picked itself up and angled itself towards the Sailor Scouts.

Isaac raised a shaky arm and made a gun with his hand. "Fire Soul!" A fire ball blasted towards the dragon's face. The dragon didn't move fast enough and was scorched in the face. It cried in pain and fell again.

"Scouts!" Bennet shouted from further up the steps. "You don't have time to fight it. Hurry up now!"

The dragon, above their heads, cawed again. Niki grabbed Isaac by the crook of his arm and pulled him away as fast as she could run. Matt raised his hands and pointed it at the dragon, who was getting back on its wings. "Shine Aqua Illusion!" Water gushed out of seemingly out of nowhere and hit the dragon square in the face, knocking it further back. Matt and Nathan, who had chosen to stay behind, ran up the steps after the others.

Claire, Bennet, and Peter were standing next to the dome. Claire was beating on it and screaming. Bennet was yelling as well. "Lordess! Lordess! Hurry up! Hurry!"

The dragon flew higher into the sky, made a semi-circle, and then dived.

Nathan held back for a moment. He aimed up at the dragon. "Venus Love-me Chain!" The chain glowed into existence and then shot up at the dragon. It pierced the dragon's wing. The dragon cried out as blood began to drip out and down the chain. Nathan yanked on it and it pulled out, disappearing once Nathan let go. The dragon fell out of the sky, its head lying only a few dozen feet away. Nathan then turned and dashed up the rest of the stairs.

A small door formed in the sheild. There was a lot of light beyond the door and a more in-tact staircase and decorations. Claire dashed in first, followed by Bennet. Peter stood by the door and waved for the Scouts to go in first. "C'mon, I'll go in last."

"But, Peter--" Niki tried to protest, but Matt pushed her forward. He was followed by Isaac then, right before Nathan went in, the dragon cried out. Nathan and Peter both turned and looked at it as it managed itself back onto its feet.

"Nathan, get in" Peter said.

"No way" Nathan said. "You're more needed than I am."

"That's the biggest load of bull I've ever heard!"

"Both of you, get in here!" It was Bennet, very angry.

The dragon cawed again, but it was struck down by a golden ball of light. Nathan and Peter both looked in the direction where the ball had come from. In the distance, through a cloud of dust, the two Petrellis noticed three figures in the distance. One was fairly tall and holding a staff. The others were just a little shorter and one of them was getting up from a crouched-down position, that one obviously being the one that had attacked the dragon.

"Peter! Nathan!" Niki shouted. Peter and Nathan both looked at each other, then moved through the doorway, which closed the moment they were in.

"Wha--"

"There are more people out there!" Peter shouted.

"Who?"

Peter looked at the new woman. She was Indian with long, curly hair, an elegant white dress that was Romanesque and a huge pregnant stomach that rested on top of Claire's, who was clinging to the woman, head. She was very tired-looking, with deep bags under her aged eyes and early wrinkles at the edges of them. "Who was it? Did you see their faces?" she asked earnestly. She had a pretty, foreign accent.

"No" Nathan answered. "But there were three of them. Two were regular height and the third was kind of tall."

The woman smiled softly. "Thank Luna..." she mumbled, holding one hand over her eyes. After a moment, the woman held a hand out. "My name is Lordess. I'm Claire's official guardian."

Peter shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm--"

"Sailor Moon" Lordess finished for him. "I figured by the outfit." When Lordess let go of his hand, she stared at him for a moment longer, eyes lit in joy as she took him in.

Peter began to feel nervous. "Uhh..."

"S-Sorry!" Lordess apologized. "Sorry, I...I'm just so glad to see you. It's been a while since I last saw you."

Peter looked at her with curiosity. "We've met before?"

"I've met you before. It'll be some time until you meet me again" Lordess said cryptically. "But no more talk about that. We need to get to Sandra quick."

"Mama!" Claire screamed.

Bennet jumped. "Why is Sandra still here?"

Lordess shrugged towards Bennet. "She didn't want to leave. The others and I were begging her to, but she wouldn't budge."

"Where's Mama?" Claire asked, getting impatient. She let go of Lordess and took a step back, crossing her arms as she did. She was ignored.

"What do you mean she wouldn't leave?" Bennet asked.

"Where's Mama!" Claire cried. Lordess gently pushed her away.

"She wouldn't leave. She was planning on it, but when the time came for everyone to evacuate, she stayed. Simple as that."

"Where is she, then?" Bennet asked.

"She's in her apartments. She should be asleep right now, so be careful about waking her up."

Bennet nodded. "Okay. Claire, let's... Claire? Claire!" Bennet looked around. Further up the stairs, he spied Claire's blond hair bouncy as she ran. "Claire!" he screamed before running after her.

"She likes to do that, doesn't she?" Peter asked in general.

"You have no idea" Lordess responded.


	7. Wicked Lady

Claire stopped to catch her breath at one of the arches that lined the back entrance to her parents' apartments. She looked up at the door that stood in front of her. She smiled. Beyond that door, her mother was sitting, waiting for word from either her husband, Lordess, or maybe even Claire herself. And Claire would open that door and her mother would see her and she would smile and cry simultaneously. Claire would be swept up in her mother's arms, smothered by her missed love and showered with little kisses. Claire could forget her mission for the moment and forget that the world was falling to pieces around her. Her father would show up then and join his two favorite women and they could form a sweet little Bennet sandwich.

Claire felt tears form in her eyes as she walked up to the door. This one lead to the bedroom. Claire gripped the doorknob, but backed off it when she felt a spark of electricity. She shook her hand, then reached for it again. She felt another shock, but dismissed it. The door flew open and Claire looked in.

The room was dark, the only light being from outside. On the bed, absolutely still, was Claire's mother. Standing in the middle of the room, right where the light was sitting, stood a cloaked man. He was featureless and appeared to be more a dark ghost than a real, living person.

"Hello Claire" he said, voice rumbling through the air so that you felt it more than heard it.

Claire felt her entire body shiver. She felt like she was in a nightmare.

Turning so that her body was like a blur, she stretched her legs out so that her stride was significantly longer than it normally would be and began to run. She was about halfway to the stairs when she felt something tug on one of her ponytails. Claire was jerked back. The action made the arm holding her teddy bear swing and throw the teddy bear to the top step. Claire fell on her back, her right ponytail being held by an invisible hand. She screamed as loud as she could as she felt her hair get tugged and pull her back. "Daddy! Daddy!"

"Claire!"

Claire opened her eyes. She saw her father appear as he ran up the stairs. He didn't freeze when he saw Wiseman in the doorway to his bedroom or Claire being telekinetically dragged by her ponytail. In fact, he hurried, sprinting as fast as he could to face the man who was trying to harm his daughter.

"Leave my daughter alone you bas--" Bennet didn't get to finish that sentence. A wall of energy forced his body back, making him fly over his daughter's prone body and land painfully on his back, the only thing to cushion his fall being the tiny teddy bear Claire had dropped.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Claire clawed at the ground, but couldn't grip on anything. She was almost through the door now. Her toes were at the entrance. "DADDY!" Claire screamed one last time before she was completely in the room and the door was shut on her.

(--)

"What happened?" Peter asked as he walked next to Lordess as they and the trailing Sailor Scouts made their way up the stairs.

"What do you mean?" Lordess asked. "How did Wiseman get here?"

"No, Claire explained that to me. I was referring to the city of marble and the giant castle that seemed to sprout out of nowhere." Peter looked around. "Where are we, anyway?"

Lordess took a deep breath. "In your time, it's New York. Nowadays, it's called the Crystal Capital."

"What happened to New York?"

"It died. Along with a lot of the rest of the world." Lordess stared at Peter. Peter didn't meet her eye, even though he knew that she was looking at him. "I shouldn't tell you the story."

"It'd make some things make sense. Like, why didn't you contact the us of today?"

Lordess played with her bottom lip. "As long as you don't tell anyone else."

Peter turned his head toward Lordess. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I promise."

Lordess coughed out a smile. "It's been a while since I've heard those words." Peter was pretty sure she was being facetious. "Alright. I didn't contact you because I can't. Most of you...aren't around."

"Where did we go?"

Lordess wiped her face with the back of her cheek. "Years ago, there was a Catastrophe that nearly ended the entire world. But you made it better, you healed everything, and this city grew from the rubble of New York. You were gone by the next morning. The few able-bodied survivors of the Catastrophe came and repopulated the city. The Sailor Scouts were made its leaders with Nathan being the unofficial head. It was maybe a year after the Catastrophe that Isaac claimed to have seen you and left the Capital to chase after you. We never saw him again. Life moved on and people were married and had children, or attempted in my case. It was probably two years after the Catastrophe that Nathan was called to where ever it was that Isaac was called to. Four months later, his second wife gave birth to Claire and--"

"Wait...Claire really is his daughter? She really is my neice?" Peter asked, hissing the words out in shock.

"Yes. I told her to search Nathan out both because of his closeness to you and because she wanted to know who her real father was. So, Nathan left, and then after him was Matt. Niki's the only one who you've met so far that's still around, but I have a feeling that will be changing soon."

Peter glanced back at the Sailor Scouts, then returned his gaze to Lordess. "There are more Sailor Scouts?"

"Yes, but that I must keep secret" Lordess said.

Peter nodded. "Yeah. I guess that's fair." He pushed back his bangs. "So you don't know where we went?"

Lordess shook her head. "Not a clue."

Peter nodded knowingly. He was silent for a beat, then asked the question that had been bugging him since before he met Claire. "Who's Polly?"

Lordess smiled. "Polly? Where did you hear that name?"

"A dream that foretold Claire's arrival. I caught the name Polly and it's been bothering me about who it is."

Lordess's smile grew. "Polly is my daughter. Her full name is Pollux since she's one of a set of twins, but we call her Polly for short."

"Thank you" Peter nodded. He looked over his shoulder once again. "I'll be back" he said to Lordess before turning around and walking against the tide of people. Lordess didn't need to look over her shoulder to know that he was going to Isaac, who must have been suffering right then.

"You alright?" Peter asked as he fell into step next to Isaac. He was shaking uncontrollably. Sweat was soaking the collar of his costume and his breathing was coming in and out in ragged draws of air. Peter placed a hand on Isaac's shoulder, but Isaac pushed it off.

"I'm...okay... Just a...bad spell" Peter put his hand on Isaac's shoulder again. This time Isaac didn't brush it off. "You know...Simone...was never...this touchy-feely" Isaac said with a small smile. Peter smiled as well. Isaac continued, "Only times...I ever thought...she cared...was when I was trying to...you know..."

"Go cold turkey?"

Isaac nodded with a weak chuckle. "It's almost...pathetic... I feel like...a guy...cares about me...more than the woman...I was with for years."

Peter felt his heart race. "Well...like you said, Simone wasn't very touchy-feely."

Isaac stared up at Peter. Peter stared back down at him. Peter watched as Isaac's lazy eyelids slid down over his brown eyes in a blink that looked more like Isaac was going to fall asleep. Peter waited a beat. Then another. And another. Peter looked around, seeing that the others were long gone. Peter looked back at Isaac. Crap, did Isaac really fall asleep? Peter opened his mouth to wake him up when Isaac cut him off. "I think you should move in with me."

There was a long pause. "What?"

"I'm gonna need help...staying clean. I think...I think you'll be the most helpful person...I could ever hope to find." Isaac opened his eyes. "Whatcha say, man?"

Peter smirked. "Sure" he agreed. It beat having Nathan worry about his rent.

Isaac smiled. "Cool."

That's when they heard the scream.

Peter stood up. "What was that?" Isaac tried to stand up as well, but fell on his face. Peter looked down, hearing Isaac curse "Fucking high-heels."

"You okay?" Peter asked.

Isaac got himself back on his feet. "Yeah, I'm good. But who was that?"

There was another scream. This time, though, it sounded like a man screaming.

"C'mon! The others are in trouble!" Peter left Isaac behind, choosing to run forward and towards the sounds of the screaming. Isaac took a few steps, but stumbled and fell, again cursing the shoes he was forced to wear.

Peter was up the stairs faster than he had expected and was soon met by Bennet's unconscious body. Next to it was Lordess, checking vitals and holding Claire's teddy bear.

"Peter, duck!" he heard Lordess shout. Peter looked up, catching the black glow of a ray of energy before it hit him square in the chest before throwing him backwards, and down the stairs. Peter groaned out in agony. A set of booted feet came to rest next to him before Niki kneeled by his side. "You okay?"

Peter nodded. "Y-Yeah..." Niki pulled him up by the arm.

"Sailor Moon, I presume." Peter looked up, catching the figure of what could have been a cloaked man, but moved more with the elegance of the Grim Reaper. Next to him stood a gorgeous young woman of about eighteen years. She had long blond hair, a full face and figure that was flaunted by a form-fitting sleeveless black dress with ruffles along the top of the bodice and the hem of the skirt and the cut up the right leg.

"Who're you two?" Peter asked.

"I am Wiseman" the cloaked figure said. He lifted one arm, revealing a black and withered hand which he used to stroke the cheek of the woman next to him. "And this is the beautiful Wicked Lady. She will be killing you and taking your Silver Crystal now, but if you somehow manage to survive and feel the need to fight me, then I will be just past that door right there." Wiseman gestured to the open door. "So long, Sailor Moon. I'm sure we will not be meeting again." With that Wiseman disappeared and the door that Wiseman had gestured towards closed.

"What the hell?" Peter asked.

Wicked Lady lifted a hand and pointed it towards Peter, palm open.

"Shining Aqua Illusion!"

Wicked Lady turned a quarter of the way around when the watery attack thew her down the stairs and onto her back. She growled, got back on her feet in an almost inhuman amount of time, and aimed an attack at Matt. "Black Air Breaker!" A clear attack sliced through the air, hitting Matt in the chest. He flew back, back slamming against one of the marble walls and face twisting in pain.

"Supreme Thunder!" Niki's bolt soared through the air. Wicked Lady held her hand out. The bolt stopped, an inch from Wicked Lady's hand. Wicked Lady smirked and made a fist with her hand. The bolt turned into a ball. Niki's eyes grew as Wicked Lady punched the ball and sent it flying towards her. Niki was able to duck down and out of the way, but not before getting a fair shock from her own attack.

"Venus Love-Me Chain!" Wicked Lady looked up and saw Nathan's whip just before it wrapped itself around her. Wicked Lady struggled in the chain, annoyed grunts and moans making making her seem like an animal; something primal and angry and nothing at all like she should be. "Peter, use the wand!" Nathan called.

Peter reached into his uniform to grab the Moon Wand when he felt a gentle touch on his arm. Peter turned to see Lordess standing next to him, one hand on her stomach, eyes on Wicked Lady. "Wait a moment. Let me try to talk to her before you do anything. I might be able to get through to her."

"What? Why would you need to do that?"

"The more she's lost in that state, the more energy you have to use. If you use too much, we might loose Claire for good."

Peter's eyes grew. "That can't be Claire! Claire's a little girl!"

"Claire is a little girl with a lot of power. That's why we needed to have her out of this _time_, so _that_," Lordess nodded at Wicked Lady, "couldn't happen to her." Lordess squeezed Peter's shoulder. "Please, let me talk to her for a moment or two. If I can't help her break out of this, then you'll get a go."

Peter gave Lordess a quick nod. Lordess approached the feral-looking Claire without hesitation. She stopped only a few inches from Claire. At the age Claire had been sped up to be, she's as tall as Lordess, so they stared at each other in the eye. Claire seems to calm down as she glared at Lordess.

Lordess tilted her head to the side a little. "Claire? Claire, are you in there?"

Claire shook her head. "Claire's dead."

"What did he do to you?" Lordess asked. She lifted a hand and placed it against Claire's face.

Claire just kept staring at Lordess. "He didn't do anything. Just showed me what the world really is."

"And what is that?"

"A great, big, horrible lie." Claire jerked her head up to Nathan. "He told me how he never wanted me or my mother, that's why he left. Not because he was 'called' or whatever he said. He just wanted something to play with, someone to fill the void of his lost family, so he chose the first pretty blond he could find."

"What're you talking about?" Nathan called.

"And you..." Claire continued as she up and down Lordess's figure. "You're a freak. You shouldn't be having children. It should be physically impossible for you and your psycho husband."

"He's better" Lordess said quickly, voice trembling only slightly. "Whatever Wiseman told you about him, he's not like that anymore."

"I bet you say that to yourself every night. I bet you look at him and say to yourself that _he_ won't come anymore. That _he_ won't show his true face and ruin the dream you've built for yourself. But what if he does?"

"Stop it" Lordess warned.

"What if, one day, he just snaps? What if he goes into each one of your precious children's rooms and rips their heads off?"

Lordess stood with a prefectly straight back. "I know what you're doing. What you're trying to do. It won't work. I know who my husband is, what he was, and I know that that's all gone. He's good, he's better. You won't be able to put a crack in that belief."

Claire shook off Lordess's still-lingering hand. "Claire," Lordess said calmly, "please look at yourself. Do you think your father would want to see you like this?"

"I don't have a father" Claire said.

"Yes you do!" Lordess insisted. She pointed to Bennet's body. "He's right there. He was hurt very badly by Wiseman."

"That's not my father."

"Yes he is. He's the man who raised you."

"My father abandoned me."

"He was by your bed when you were sick."

"Only because he had to."

"He would go to the end of time to protect you!"

"I'm his assignment and a replacement for the son he lost during the end of the world. I mean nothing to him!"

"You're wrong."

Peter, Nathan, Niki, Lordess and the enchanted Claire all looked in Bennet's direction. He was getting up on his hands and knees, then using the steps that were higher up to lift him onto his feet. He took a few deep breaths before staring Claire down. Peter glanced at Claire long enough to notice that she was trembling.

"Claire Bear...listen to yourself. Really listen. You're talking nonesense, and you know you are." Bennet took a few steps forwards. Lordess stepped out of the way, closer to Peter.

"But I'm right, aren't I?" Claire asked, voice trembling. Peter glanced up towards Nathan. He was still holding onto the chain, but he seemed to be struggling with it.

"Claire, I can't lie to you and say that you didn't replace Lyle when I was first appointed your guardian. But that doesn't mean your mother and I don't love you. You're our child. You have been the moment Lordess placed you in your mother's arms." Bennet cupped Claire's face.

Claire's eyes began to glow.

"What's going on?" Niki asked.

"Peter!" Peter looked down the steps. Isaac had finally caugh up to them, shoes in his hands. He looked at Claire. "What the hell?"

"Bennet, step away from Claire" Nathan shouted. The chain that had once encased Claire's waist was beginning to force itself away from her. Nathan was tugging on the chain, trying to get it to tighten around her again, but whatever aura that was growing around her made it impossible.

"Claire, listen to me" Bennet continued, thumb brushing against her cheek.

"Noah," Lordess said calmly, "step away from her."

"I love you, Claire" Bennet said. "I always have and I always will."

There was barely a second between Bennet finishing his sentence and the energy that had been building up around Claire exploded.


	8. Wiseman

Peter blinked as the dust floated off, settling on everything; people, stairs, plants, lungs if that person hacking was anything to go by. Peter turned his head, not feeling comfortable with the edge of the stairs in his gut and chest and not liking the pressure keeping him there. He saw Niki, hair dusted in white. Above him was Isaac, breathing hard in Peter's ear, body shivering.

Peter lifted himself off the ground, Isaac sliding off of him like he had been greased. He stood up and looked around. There was a small crater around Claire, who was sitting on her legs, still looking years older than she really was. Lordess was lying on her back, hands gripping at her stomach, a small, high-pitched whine coming from her closed mouth. Peter walked over and kneeled by Lordess, taking a quick look up towards where Nathan had been, seeing that he was unconscious, hands empty. Peter turned back to Lordess.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He placed a hand on her stomach, wishing he had anything that would let him hear what was going on inside her stomach.

Lordess, face twisted in pain and tears falling in thick streams, nodded. "I'm...okay" she gasped out.

"Are you having contractions?" Peter asked.

Lordess nodded vigorously. She grunted as her body convulsed. Peter felt his spine tingle. This wasn't good. Peter had nearly failed his pre- and post-natal care course. "Uh...uh...you know what you're supposed to do?" Lordess nodded again. "Okay...well...just, um, breath deeply and calmly and...uh...I'll come back and take care of you, okay?" Peter nodded to himself, not really wanting to walk away from Lordess, but having to see how Claire was doing.

Peter kneeled by Claire. "Claire? Claire? Are you okay?"

Claire's hair was covering her face, and she didn't move, so Peter couldn't tell if she was even alive. "Claire?"

"Mmph" Claire groaned.

At least she was alive.

Peter placed a hand on Claire's shoulder. "Claire, can you hear me?"

Claire fell into Peter. "...want muh daddy..."

Peter smiled. He looked around some more, trying to find Bennet. His smile dropped when he saw Bennet, lying unconscious, blood pooling around his head. Peter sat Claire up. "Okay...Claire...I'm going to use the Moon Wand to remove Wiseman's influence from you, okay?"

"Nnnh..."

Peter stood up and stepped away, pulling his Moon Wand out of his costume. He pointed it at the still Claire and took a deep breath. "Moon Healing Escalation!" The bright white light was much more gentle as it grew, washing over Claire and the others surrounding Peter. After a minute, the light faded and before him was an eight-year-old Claire. Peter gave a relieved smile to no one, then remembered that Bennet was bleeding a few feet away. He turned towards the older man and dashed the few feet seperating them, kneeling once he got to Bennet's side. The blood, Peter could very easily and quickly tell, was coming from a large gash that stretched from the crown of his head down to his right ear. Peter breathed a curse word as his hands went to check the damage to the skull.

"Peter..." Peter froze. He looked over his shoulder to see Claire looking horrified in his direction. "Peter...what's wrong with--"

"He'll be fine, Claire, don't worry." Peter smiled at her, for reassurance. She didn't seem so assured, though. He turned back to her father, who was unconscious and bleeding badly. Peter noticed that Claire's bear was sitting in shreds next to Bennet's body. He pressed his lips together and tried to ignore it, checking Bennet's head again to make sure it was still in one piece. It was, which calmed Peter down a little.

He stood up and turned to Lordess. Then he looked at Isaac and Niki. Niki was starting to shift, but Peter was pretty sure that Isaac was out for the count. Then there were Nathan and Matt to deal with. Peter rubbed his face. He needed bandages and hot water and towels and--

"Peter..." Peter turned around. Lordess was breathing evenly enough, though her face was still twisted. "We can handle ourselves. Go after Wiseman. He should be your real concern."

"But--"

"Go." Peter looked at Claire, who was sitting and staring at her father. "Lordess and I can take care of Daddy and the others."

Peter wanted to refuse, but he knew that Claire and Lordess were right. He should be worried more about Wiseman, who was currently the bigger threat, than he should be about his friends' cuts and bruises. Still, he couldn't help but want to stay with them and make sure they were taken care of.

"Peter" Lordess said. Peter just missed her flinch at yet another contraction. "Go. We're more than capable to help your friends."

Peter hesitated before nodding. He climbed the rest of the stairs. At the top, he saw that Matt was lying against a colomn. He fought the desire to check him and walked to the door that Wiseman had locked himself behind. Peter froze before actually touching the knob, having been hit with the wave of dark energy that Wiseman was giving off. Peter shook a little, then swallowed his fear. He opened the door and walked in.

Claire was still staring at her father when she heard the door close. "I'm sorry that I let Wiseman take over my mind."

"That's, ah, not your fault, dear" Lordess answered. "As long as you fix your mistakes, then it'd be like it never happened."

Claire nodded, even though she knew that things would never be like they were. Claire wasn't entirely clear on what she did, but she was sure that what it was, was horrible. Claire sniffed and rubbed her nose against her sleeve.

"Claire, baby" Lordess said. "You need to fix things. I can't right now."

Claire nodded. She got up, eyes tearing up. She walked over to Bennet and knelt down. She picked up the pieces of the ripped up teddy bear and dug through the stuffing. Eventually, she pulled out what she had been looking for, what that bear had been protecting: a small, white, shimmering crystal. Claire squeezed her Silver Crystal. When her fist began to glow, that's when she knew that she could get to fixing her mistake.

(--)

It was very dark in the room. Peter raised a hand and waved it in front of his face. He couldn't see it. He let the hand drop and squeezed the handle of the Moon Wand with the other hand. He stood as straight as he could manage and puffed out his chest. "I'm here!" he shouted.

"I'm glad to see that you are" responded a mocking voice.

Peter held the Moon Wand out in front of him. "Wiseman, I demand that you show yourself!"

"And why should I listen to you?" Wiseman questioned.

"Because if you don't, I'll destroy you" Peter threatened.

There was mocking laughter. "Destroy me? You don't even know where I am!"

Peter spun around slowly, Moon Wand held out. "Maybe, but I could find you."

"How?" Wiseman asked.

The way Wiseman's voice echoed made him seem like he was everywhere, so that wasn't going to help. Peter closed his eyes and imagined the crescent part of the Moon Wand. Soon, the wand began to warm and pulse with the energy growing inside of it. Peter opened his eyes, smirking as he saw that the wand was already making enough light to see the ground right beneath him as well as his arms. "Give up, Wiseman. If you come peacefully, maybe we won't have to fight. We could talk it out and you could leave peacefully."

"I won't leave until I see your corpse."

"According to Lordess, I don't die."

"That was before you tampered with time."

Peter turned, and jumped when the saw the cloaked man. "You're still fresh blood" Wiseman said. "You don't know what it's truly like to be Sailor Moon."

"Of course I do" Peter said. "I've lived through the consequences: losing my job, being swallowed by a monster, having my friends and family hurt."

"But you don't know" Wiseman said. "You've only dipped your feet in. You need to be fully submerged, fully engrossed to know what it's like to be Sailor Moon. The pain it brings, the power that can corrupt you."

"You speak like you've experienced it" Peter said.

"I've seen it's effects" Wiseman explained. "Sailor Moon, this life you're choosing is dangerous. Pretty soon, you'd be crying over dead body after dead body. Soon, you'll be all alone, with nothing but your Silver Crystal to comfort you, and a rock isn't very useful when mourning." Wiseman lifted his hand. The front of Peter's broach sprung open. The Silver Crystal glittered in the darkness. It levitated out of the hole in the broach and floated so that it was right in front of Peter's face. "Sailor Moon" Wiseman said, almost caringly. "I'm trying to save you from your inevitable suffering. This rock, it's cursed. Everyone who has ever owned it has been forced to endure great pain. If you truly want to protect your friends and family, then allow me to take it from you." The Silver Crystal began to float towards the outstretched hand.

Peter reached a hand out and grabbed the Silver Crystal. "If it's so cursed, why do you want it?" he asked.

"You're a fool" Wiseman said.

"I'm a fool who's going to defeat you" Peter insisted. He placed the Silver Crystal inside the curve of the Moon Wand, then pointed it back at Wiseman.

Wiseman raised his hand. Peter felt something hit him in the gut that sent him doubling over. Then he felt another force throwing him back, through the air and against the wall that he couldn't see. Peter crumpled up against the ground, hissing in pain.

"You're weak, Sailor Moon. Give up now and I'll spare your life."

Peter raised the Moon Wand. "Moon Healing--" the Silver Crystal glowed, filling the entire room with a dull white light and revealing Wiseman. Peter angled the Moon Wand so that the attack would go straight to Wiseman. "Escalation!" The pristine white light shrunk back into the Silver Crystal, then shot itself at Wiseman. The entity cried out in shock. Peter smiled and let his arm fall when the attack had finished and waited for the darkness to disappear.

He waited, but it didn't go away.

"Stupid boy!" Wiseman cried. Peter used the wall to climb back onto his feet. "You don't know how to use the Silver Crystal! You'll never protect anyone unless you can control your most valuable weapon!"

"I know how to use it!"

"You know how to use it with another object" Wiseman corrected. There was what felt like a kick to Peter's side, causing him to fall to the floor again. "You don't know how to use the Crystal on its own! It's only then can you truly reach your potential as Sailor Moon!"

Peter held the Moon Wand to his chest. He removed the Silver Crystal from the crescent. "I can use it! Just you watch!" Peter pressed the Silver Crystal against the palm of his hand. He felt it warm up, but nothing else. He closed his eyes and tried to focus. There was a kick to his side that broke his concentration. Peter tried to ignore it, to reach his mind to the small white diamond in his hand. There was another blow to his body. And another. And another. And another. They kept coming at him, bringing his attention away from what he was supposed to be focusing on, the Silver Crystal, and towards whatever the hell it was that was beating him up. Peter curled up, bending his head so that he looked like a strange ball.

"Give up, Sailor Moon!" Wiseman shouted, a hint of amusement in his echoing voice.

Peter shook his head and focused harder. The Crystal hurt in his hand. He was almost sure that it was drawing blood. He felt it grow warmer. Then he felt his vibrate.

Then he felt it grow.

There was a sudden explosion of energy in Peter's body. He opened his eyes and saw that his hand was glowing. He opened his hand to see that the Silver Crystal had expanded, growing so that it resembled a lotus flower, glowing like it was a tiny star. Peter got back up onto his feet. As he did, he noticed that the darkness was disappearing in the path of the Silver Crystal.

"W-What?!"

Peter cupped his second hand around the light of the Silver Crystal. The first hand moved, the light around the Silver Crystal forcing it away. Peter's fingertips tingled. His head was absolutely clear and he was sure his eyes were as wide as plates. The light around the Silver Crystal began to expand, eating away at the darkness. The light grew in size and intensity, becoming almost blinding. Peter heard Wiseman cry out, telling him to stop, but he couldn't. Then a great energy burst from the Silver Crystal. The darkness dissolved into nothing and, when the light finally faded away, Wiseman was nothing but a wisp of smoke.

Peter looked around, then closed his eyes and fell unconscious.

(--)

When Peter next gained consciousness, he was still in the bedroom. He sat up and looked around. It was him and a woman, sleeping on the bed. Peter got to his feet. He thought about waking the woman up, then decided he should go outside and check up on everyone.

Peter exited the room and was met with a breath-stealing hug. "Peter! You're alive!" Niki cried out. Her hug was followed by someone else's. "We were so worried about you!" Matt added.

"Urgh...I'm fine...I'm--"

"Why's your broach open?" Niki asked, backing away. Matt looked at Peter's chest. "Where's the Silver Crystal?"

Peter looked down. He felt his face warm up and he ran back into the room. Peter found the Silver Crystal on the floor, completely innocuous. He swiped it up and placed it back into the broach before running back out to Matt and Niki. "Sorry" he said, scratching the back of his head. "Forgot to put it back in" he said. He looked over Matt and Niki's shoulders. Everyone else was gone. "Where is everyone?" he asked.

"Bennet took Lordess to her room so she could have her baby and Claire went with them" Matt explained. "We were told to wait for you."

"And where's Isaac and Nathan?"

"They were told to direct Lordess's husband to their room when he and the others got back" Niki said. "We haven't seen them for a while, now." Niki hugged Peter again, this time more gently. "I'm sure they'll be glad to see you."

Peter nodded. "Yeah...yeah I'll be glad to see them too." Peter looked over her shoulder again, then laid his head against her shoulder, feeling surprisingly calm.


	9. Epilogue: New Beginnings

Peter blew on his coffee, feeling at home in the comfortable and familiar coffee shop.

"You miss them?" Isaac asked, nibbling on the end of an unlit cigarette.

Peter focused on his companion that morning. It was a week since he and the rest returned from the future. It was a pretty quick and unceremonious return, in Peter's mind. As soon as he, Niki, and Matt rejoined with Nathan and Isaac, Sailor Pluto appeared and told them to hurry up, they needed to leave before the timeline was royally screwed. Not his exact words, but that was what was what Pluto's urgency insisted. None of them were given the chance to say goodbye to Claire or Bennet or Lordess and it had been bothering Peter for the past seven days what happened with Lordess's baby.

Peter placed the mug back on the table. "A little" he answered. "But at least we know they're safe."

"Yeah..." Isaac said, trailing off.

Peter tapped the cigarette on Isaac's lip. "You know you can't light that in here."

"That's why it's not lit" Isaac answered.

"Peter!"

Peter jumped, then dropped his head into his hand. He heard Isaac laugh at him as Raye gave Peter a big, throat-crushing hug. "Oh, Peter, I haven't seen you in so long!" Raye nuzzled his head.

"Y-Yeah... Raye, have you met Isaac?" Peter asked, gesturing towards Isaac, who threw him an angry glare.

Raye looked at Isaac, frozen. She nodded slowly. "Yeah...uh...so, Peter, what've you been up to? Mina said she felt there was a disturbance in your cards a few days ago."

"I have cards?"

"Of course, silly!" Raye squealed.

"Well, erm, I moved out of my apartment two days ago" Peter said as way of explanation.

Raye jumped back, nearly knocking the coffee out of someone's hand. "Really?!" she yelled. Both Isaac and Peter ducked their heads, trying to not be noticed and to ignore the stares. "Oh! That's so cool! Where'd you move to?"

Peter glaned betweens his fingers, looking at Isaac. "Uh...I moved in with a friend."

"Is it a _special_ friend?" Raye asked, prodding Peter with an elbow.

"It's a good friend" Peter replied. The cigarette on Isaac's lip moved more when he continued to chew on it.

"Oh...that's so nice! Well, I should go! I need to meet a very important person! Bye-bye Peter. Bye-bye Isaac!" Raye pranced off, leaving Peter and Isaac to their bubble of embarrassment.

"Wanna finish here quick?" Isaac asked.

"Yep" Peter agreed. He and Isaac nearly burnt their mouths with how fast they were drinking their respective coffee drinks.

(--)

"Hey, Isaac" Peter said as they walked back to their shared apartment.

"Yeah?"

"How close friends are we?" Peter asked.

"Uh...real close?" Isaac answered, kind of confused by the question. "Why?"

Peter was silent for a few moments, hesitating as he chose the words as carefully as he could. Then he gave that up and became as blunt as he could be. "You kissed me that time you were high in the hospital."

Isaac stopped walking. "Huh?"

Peter stopped as well. "In the hospital, when we first met Bennet. You kissed me and said that you thought I was sexy in my Sailor Moon costume."

The cigarette that Isaac had been chewing on for the past five minutes fell out of his mouth. "Uh...well...damn, I don't think I can talk my way out of this, can I?"

"Giving me the truth would be a good start" Peter said.

Isaac sighed. "Well...I said that because I think you look sexy in your Sailor Moon costume." Isaac clenched his eyes and seemed to wait for a punch or something.

"Hm... Thank you for telling me that" Peter said with a nod of his head. Then he leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to Isaac's cheek.

Isaac opened his eyes and blinked them. "Did you just--"

"Yeah. Something wrong with that?"

Isaac smiled. He slung an arm over Peter's shoulders and walked with him down the street. "No, man. No problem at all."

(--)

Peter and Isaac were walking down the hall to their apartment, laughing, when Isaac suddenly grabbed Peter's arm and pulled him close. Peter stared into Isaac's eyes and his smile grew even more. Isaac leaned in close and pressed their foreheads together. "Peter?"

"Yeah?" Peter asked.

"What're you going to tell Nathan?" Isaac asked. "He going to be okay about you dating a male former junkie."

Peter nodded. "He trusts me and my ability to read other people."

Isaac made a little noise that was neither approving nor disapproving. Isaac let go of Peter's arm and walked past him. Peter felt suddenly cold. He turned to Isaac's back, saying, "He knows you're a good person."

"Not saying he doesn't. Just asking" Isaac said as he unlocked the door. He opened it and walked in, Peter right behind him. "Holy crap!" Isaac exclaimed.

Sitting on one of the tables was a blond woman, wearing jeans, a pink top, and pink sneakers. The woman looked up, revealing her young, full face.

Peter squeezed past Isaac. "Claire?" he questioned.

Claire smiled. "You remember me!"

"It's been a week! How are you not still eight?" Peter asked.

"It's been ten years for me" Claire said. She hopped off the table and walked to the bottom of the steps. "Don't you love time travel?"

"What're you doing here? Wait, is there more trouble in the future?" Peter asked.

Claire shook her head. "Nothing that we can't handle. I'm here for training." Claire shoved a hand down the front of her shirt and dug around before pulling out a small, round broach that was similar in style to Peter's. "Lordess and my dad agreed that it would be better that I be sent back and learn from you before officially becoming Sailor Moon."

"How long are you going to be here?" Isaac asked, sounding a little annoyed.

"Don't know. Until I'm done, I guess" Claire said with a smile. Then her smile fell. "Oh, you mean in the apartment? Don't worry, my mom and dad came with me so I'm living with them this time."

Peter and Isaac looked extremely releaved. Claire couldn't help but feel a little pissed at their reactions.

(--)

When the door opened, he expected Suzie to bring him his meds, like she always did right after he woke up. Instead of seeing the pretty nurse, though, he saw Mrs. Fullman, his shrink, and two of the security guards. He curled on his bed. He didn't remember doing anything, but that didn't mean anything, did it?

"Today is a very special day" Mrs. Fullman said, walking up to the curled man and sitting next to him on the bed. She placed her hand on his shoulder. "You get to leave today, sweetie."

His mouth went dry. "What?" he asked.

"The doctors, your parole officer and I had a discussion and we've come to the decision that you are well enough to leave the hospital" Mrs. Fullman explained, a sweet smile on her face. It wasn't as reassuring as she had tried to make it.

"But...I don't know where to go. I don't have family or friends or...or anyone out there" the patient said meekly, looking towards the little window. That and the television in the common room had been his only ways to know what was happening on the outside. He'd been deemed to dangerous to go outside when he initially came here and it was more out of habit that he didn't go out during freetime once he was considered well enough.

"There's a halfway house, dear. You'll live with others like you until you find a job and a place to live." Mrs. Fullman ran her fingers through her patient's hair. He seemed to relax, like he always did. "And remember, you can always see me when you need someone to talk to."

He didn't want to go, though. He liked it in his room. He liked being in this place where people could stop him if he ever lost control of himself. He didn't want to go and live with other people like him. He didn't like himself, why live with people like him?

But he had no choice. He could understand that. It was either leave and live in that house or leave and live on the streets. He had a better chance living in that house for a few months and then get out than to not go there at all. And Mrs. Fullman was right. He always had her to go to.

He looked to Mrs. Fullman and nodded his head. "Okay. When do I have to move out?"

Mrs. Fullman's smile grew. She gave her patient a hug. "Atta boy, Gabriel."


End file.
